THE FORGOTTEN YEARS
by J7339
Summary: What would happen if Lucas went back to live with his real father Lawrence? How would Bridger react? What would happen between father and son? FINALLY UPDATED !
1. The Accident

**THE FORGOTTEN YEARS**

**By Jules**

**CHAPTER 1 - THE ACCIDENT**

**Author Notes: This is not a sequel but you will have to had read the Hauntings series to know why Lawrence Wolenczak was in a coma in the first place.**

**Secondly you will have to have read Solitary Witness to know that Lawrence has come out of his coma (yes the question you all asked at the end of Hauntings - Absolute Fear has been answered in this story).**

**This story is meant to explore the idea of what would happen if Lucas went back to live with Lawrence on a permanent basis of his own choosing. The first part of this story will deal with how Lucas got to loose his senses all together and how he came to forget all about what happened during his childhood.**

**Hopefully anything else I will explain as I go.**

**I have a few others to finish and quite a lot to start so I chose this one next.**

**Have fun reading...**

**JULES**

the story begins ...

Three weeks after the courtroom scene in Solitary Witness

Lucas sat on the bed in his room, his hands twitching nervously in front of him as he tried to stop them from moving towards the bed-side table and opening the top drawer.

He knew what was inside. Laying at the back, hidden out of sight where he had put it three weeks ago and tried to forget.

How could he forget though? Every single letter on that piece of paper was tattooed into his memory forever. He could still remember how he had felt in the courtroom that day the nightmare had begun all over again:

_**Dear Son, I hope this letter reaches you. I know it's been a long time since we have seen each other and I am sorry about that. I wanted to let you know that I am no longer the man that you thought me to be. Please believe me when I say that I have changed for the better. I don't want to change your new life, but some day I was hoping to see you again and try and make up for the past. You are most welcome to come and stay with me anytime Lucas. I want the chance to get to know my son again. Please think about it. signed Lawrence Wolenczak.**_

He tried his best to hide his true feelings from the Captain, Nathan Bridger and Kristin. Lord knows that they had enough to worry about over the last few weeks as his leg began to heel.

They were there for everything he needed and even when he hadn't felt like he need them. He had put them and the rest of the crew through enough stress and strain at the court hearing, not telling them about anything he had witnessed or seen during the murder.

With this being the third week, almost the fourth, his leg was healing nicely and he only found himself having to rest it for brief periods of time throughout the day now. He had even been allowed to move around a bit on it under Kristin's careful and watchful eye.

Lucas somehow found his hands having a mind of their own however and now the blue coloured envelope was once again back out the drawer and in his hands.

He re-read the words for another time, his mind already having memorised the words. From the sound of it, the accident that had claimed the life of Paul Sanderson and put his father into a long-term coma had also robbed his father of whatever sanity he had left at the time.

The guy almost sounded normal and in the eyes of Lucas that just wasn't his father, Lawrence Wolenczak. Something must have been scrambled during the accident that temporary gave him leave from his normal train of thought.

Meeting him again like the letter suggested was the furtherest thing from his mind right at this point in time. Quite the opposite, with the realisation that his father was recovering and could be released from the psychiatric ward of the hospital, he wanted to put as much distance between them as possible.

His father had somehow always managed to find him, no matter what lengths he had gone to severe ties or links between them. His father had caused many physical scars on his body over the years.

Lucas didn't know which were worse, those or the mental ones where he was always constantly looking over his shoulder or trying to hide what had really happened all those years ago.

In the letter, Lawrence stated that he had changed for the better. Lucas had always longed for a relationship with a father figure in his life. Eventually that role had been passed onto Captain Bridger of the SeaQuest who had then made everything legal and adopted him.

But somewhere down deep inside, Lucas regretted that the relationship with his real father had deteriorated to the extent that he hated the very mention of the man's name. Apart from the physical and mental torment, what other factors had contributed to their relationship breaking down so far so quickly.

He had secretly wondered what things would be different if Lawrence had been a kind, loving and understanding father like Bridger. What things would they have experienced together? There was no denying that they had in the past shared interest in similar areas such as computer program design, robotics and artificial intelligence.

When it came to those areas of science, Lucas was more like Lawrence than Bridger. The Captain had often thumbed his nose at technology and wanted to retreat into a world free from computers and the marvellous world of gadgets that existed today.

Lawrence had probably been there at the very beginning of Lucas's genius ability with technology. He had been the one to buy Lucas his first computer at the age of 4 years.

Lucas put the envelope back into the back of the drawer and then forced himself to get out of his bedroom and away from past thoughts.

His sleep for the last two weeks had been plagued with re-enactments of the courtroom scene but this time, Lawrence had been there in person, terrifying his son to no end. In some nightmares, Lawrence had even taken the place of the prosecutor where Lucas found himself on trial for all sorts of misdeeds and past wrong-doings.

Hopefully as Lucas made himself return more to a normal routine on a daily basis, the nightmares would begin to subside or ease at least and he would be able to pick some sort of remnants of his life prior to the murder of John Taylor.

**about six months later:**

Lucas was trying to hurriedly put on his good dress jeans and a polo-necked shirt in record time. Outside the sound of a horn blaring at him, telling him to do it faster rung in his ears.

"Come on Lucas we are going to be late," came the voice of Nathan Bridger as he tried to get his son to join him and Kristin in the car. He didn't see why teenagers left it so short of time to get ready. Lucas had know that they were headed to the restaurant two hours ago and he still wasn't ready.

"Yeah, Yeah, I am coming, hold on just one more minute," Lucas shouted back as he was fighting to get his shoes on. He left his room with his good leather jacket, missing the need to run a comb through his ruffled blond hair. It was passable he told himself not even bothering to look in the mirror.

"Lucas, you could have combed your hair," Kristin reprimanded him as she looked him up and down, disapproving and approving of the attire he had chosen.

"I did," Lucas lied and now climbed into the back seat of the car while Bridger looked once again at his watch, grumbling because they were going to miss the ferry to the mainland. They only had ten minutes to get there and buy their tickets or they would all be staying home for the day on the island.

"You look nice, Kristin," Lucas commented as he noted the doctor's casual but neat dress. Simplicity worked well for Kristin because her fire-red hair gave her enough colour and vitality to pull off any combination. Bridger like Lucas had chosen a pair of dress jeans and a collared shirt.

"This should be a real blast," Lucas said with excitement in his voice. This had been the first real time out they had had since coming back from a three month tour of duty four days ago.

The first two days had been just to catch up on sleep for the entire crew. The tour hadn't been over-dramatic, mostly scientific observation actually, but it had proved a month too long for many of them, including Lucas who often found his mind wandering back to a few months earlier at the hands of Carl Lopez.

"I am glad you are looking forward to it, Lucas," Bridger said as he glanced sideways at Kristin, trying to catch her reaction to the boy's emotions. They both noted the happiness in his voice and sighed inwardly in relief. It wasn't an emotion they had seen in him for a very long time. The last six months had been rough and there hadn't been very much to smile about.

"Just take it easy tonight Lucas, have fun but take it easy," Kristin said in motherly tone. She couldn't help but still feel over-protective of him at times.

"Ben and I have something special planned for tonight," Lucas said with a cheeky grin on his face.

During the last tour, apart from Bridger and Kristin, Ben had proven to be his rock. Krieg was there to listen and never judged unless asked to. He was there to talk to without saying a word and he seemed to understand all the mixed up feelings the teenager had been experiencing since the courtroom.

Lucas had never shared about the letter with Ben though. Not even Bridger knew who the letter had been truly from. There were some things he just wasn't ready to share with any of them yet.

About an hour later, after a forty minute ride across the ocean to the mainland, Lucas, Bridger and Kristin were pulling up outside a restaurant in a U.E.O. transport. A second transport was already parked outside the venue.

Most of the other crew members, including Ben were just beginning to walk in as well. The place had been a predetermined destination for them all to meet and wind down some. Ben and Lucas had actually chosen the venue.

"You two chose quite well, Ben," Bridger commented as they walked through the main entrance in to the sitting area. They were greeted by a staff member who showed them to a series of tables around a dance floor and karaoke stage.

Bridger and Commander Ford looked inquisitively at Lucas and Ben as they spotted the karaoke stage. It was now obvious why the two had chosen this place and what they had in mind for all to participate in.

None of the crew objected to the idea. A round of drinks was ordered and all sat around the table idly talking for an hour or so just to allow themselves to be taken in by the mood of the place and relax a little.

Lucas did have one drink, but stopped it at that. Although he was now 18 years old, he was not a frequent drinker and saw the benefits of having fun using other methods than having to rely on alcohol for having a good time.

Bridger and Kristin praised the teenager to his self-control attitude and sighed in relief that they didn't have to worry about that side of things just yet. Lucas was normally a responsible youth and didn't need much supervision about what was right and wrong to do.

Miguel Ortiz and Tim O'Neill had huddled together in a pair, trying to discuss exactly what they were going to do up on the karaoke stage. Despite Tim's normally restrained personality, he did like to do some off the wall things at time.

While the other people watched on with curiosity about what they were going to do, Miguel and Tim now approached the stage and prepared to be the first act of the night. Luckily the stage was currently vacant and the crew had the entire stage to themselves.

The lights went dark for quite a few seconds and then the speakers roared into life with a rap sounding track. As the lights were allowed to come on, the SeaQuest crew found themselves falling over each other in laughter as Miguel and Tim began their own rendition of a Hip Hop Group.

Miguel even had a hat pulled down over his forehead, looking the part. Tim had put on a pair of coloured framed glasses and had a beanie type hat on his head to try and remain in character.

Needless to say, although their rapping wasn't quite up to standard, the crew were laughing hardily at their efforts and enjoying every minute of it. Lucas was laughing along with everybody else. Some of the crew looked at the teenager and pondered how long it had been since they had seen him laugh genuinely as he was now. They hoped that the smile and laughter remained for a very long time to come.

Whilst Tim and Miguel put the finishing touches on their act, Ben and Lucas now left their seats and went behind the stage to prepare for their own little number. They had even gone to the trouble of costumes for their act.

After Tim and Miguel had vacated the stage and turned the lights back down low, they returned to their tables to the applause of their friends. The crew were really having a great time.

The lights were dimmed again, this time the music not being played until Ben and Lucas walked out on stage. They had not chosen to do a rap group, but instead the crew found themselves looking at the Blues Brothers.

Lucas was dressed like Elwood with dark glasses, suit jacket and hat, although somewhat shorter perhaps. Ben was similarly dressed with dark glasses and a hat but quite a few pounds lighter than the real Jake. The song they chose got everybody wanting to dance to "Shake Your Tail Feather."

Ben and Lucas completed the song and then walked back over to the tables, clapping and applause once again from the crew. Lucas was having a great time and it clearly showed. Bridger would be forever grateful to Ben for suggesting they take the kid out a bit more during this shore leave and show him a good time for a change.

Lucas, who had been laughing along with everybody else, took a drink from his glass as he stood beside Bridger and Ben. He looked up towards an approaching waiter and bent his head slightly as the man whispered into his ear.

The smile and grin that was on Lucas's face faded in a second as he recognized the name of the person he had been told wanted to see him in the foyer. Lucas found himself fumbling with the drink in his hand, setting it down on the table before he dropped it altogether.

"Excuse me please," Lucas said in a very low voice, displaying a grim tone as he followed the waiter towards the front lobby. The crew followed him with their eyes, wondering who it was that wanted to see Lucas. As far as they were all aware, nobody else but the SeaQuest crew should have known where he would have been tonight.

Bridger was about to follow the teenager to see what troubling the young man when Kristin put a gentle, but restraining touch on his jacket, telling him that they should all wait here for them out of respect for Lucas. If he had trouble, somebody out the front would alert them before anything could happen to Lucas.

Bridger compromised slightly and although he didn't follow the teenager out to the lobby, he did go up to the large plate glass windows at the front of the establishment where he could see Lucas now standing. He was trying to get a look at what was going on. Most of the crew also looked out of curiosity.

What they could see was Lucas talking to a person none of them had ever seen before. The man was of stocky build, short in stature. Although the man didn't look much of a threat to Lucas, they noted that whatever conversation was going on between the two was getting Lucas quite annoyed.

Lucas was not one normally noted for his temper but one could have been mistaken about that at the moment as the teenager showed every sign of becoming frustrated as the stranger spoke to him.

Lucas suddenly turned away from the man and walked back inside in a very stiff fashion.

Bridger and the other scurried back to the tables in an effort to hide the fact that they had all been spying secretly on the teenager.

Lucas came back into the bar room, and instead of talking to anybody, sat at the table, hunched over. He picked up the glass he had been drinking from and now downed the remaining contents in one swallow. He paged a nearby waiter for a further two drinks without even looking at his friends and family.

Whatever had been said to the teenager couldn't be good. His mood had changed so dramatically within a short space of time. One minute he looked as though he was having the time of his life, the next he was all sullen, withdrawn and non- talkative, like the world was caving in on him.

Bridger wanted to go up to him and try talking to him about what might have been troubling him. He took a few steps towards the table when Lucas suddenly got up again. Without so much as a word to anybody else he now started heading for the front door once again, this time with jacket in his hand.

Lucas had taken a set of keys to one of the transport vehicles out the front beside Bridger's jacket and intended on driving himself away from the place as quickly as possible.

"Lucas?" Bridger said as he tried to get the teenager to slow down long enough to talk to and stop from doing something stupid.

Lucas didn't heed any of Bridger's attempts to stop though and headed out the door and got into one of the transports and was soon driving away before any of the crew could stop him any further.

"We can't just let him leave like that, Captain," Ben now said with worry for his friend clearly on his mind.

"Come on," Bridger said to the others as six of them now climbed in and squashed together in the second vehicle.

* * *

Bridger had to keep up the speed a little at first just to catch up to the fleeing teenager. Once they got out onto the open road a little, it seemed that Lucas was slowing down some. They could now see the teenager clearly in front of them but they were still far enough away for him to not take any notice of the vehicle behind him.

"Where is he going?" Kristin asked the others, not sure they knew the answer anymore than she did.

"Who was that guy he was talking to?" Miguel Ortiz now asked.

To Bridger's relief he now could see Lucas now stopped at a set of traffic lights just in front. There was another vehicle behind Lucas and in front of them.

Just as the lights turned green, everything seemed to change to slow-motion for Bridger. Later he would reflect the scene over and over again, knowing that he would never forget the events that were about to unfold before his very eyes.

Lucas had just put his vehicle into gear and started to cross the intersection. The vehicle in front of Bridger's car had now turned, giving the crew a clear view of the teenager and his vehicle with a distance of about 30 metres.

From out of nowhere, a vehicle coming from the right hand side road sped through the red stop light and was headed straight for the passenger side door on Lucas's vehicle.

Bridger could see the imminent accident but from where he was sitting, there was nothing he could do to stop it but yell out, "LUCAS LOOK OUT" at the top of his voice.

The rest of the crew stood in cold stony silence as they watched in horror as the speeding car drove straight into Lucas's vehicle.

Lucas had been warned of the impending accident as he looked into the oncoming headlights just before he felt the impact. And feel it he did. The other vehicle collided with the passenger side door, the sound of crunching metal and shattering glass unmistakable.

The force of the impact made Lucas's vehicle turn 360 degrees on three occasions. How the vehicle didn't roll onto it's side or roof, Bridger would never know but be eternally grateful for.

Lucas vehicle spun out of control and crashed driver's side door into a tree on a nature strip on the other side of the intersection. The second vehicle and sustained a large amount of damage and the drunken driver at the wheel looked to be unconscious across the dash board.

Bridger and the others got out of their vehicle and immediately began running towards Lucas's damaged vehicle. They couldn't detect any movement from within which worried them even more.

Commander Ford, Miguel and Tim O'Neil offered to assist the other drunken driver of the second vehicle. Two ambulances were summonsed on the U.E.O. vehicle's radio and could soon be heard blaring their sirens towards the scene of the accident.

Upon reaching Lucas's vehicle, Bridger knew the teenager was in desperate need of medical attention. The teenager's head must have struck the steering wheel as his vehicle spun out of control.

Lucas was now slumped over to one side against what was left of the driver's side window. There was extensive damage to the passenger side door which made attempting to open it and getting to Lucas that more difficult.

The crew were unable to get to Lucas via the driver's side as that side of the car rest against the tree trunk. Bridger had tried calling Lucas's name through the broken window, trying to get a response. A cold shiver of pain went through his heart when the boy remained painfully still.

After what seemed like eternity, Bridger finally managed to get the passenger side door open enough to squeeze himself through and scramble onto the front seat beside the injured teenage driver.

Bridger placed a hand on Lucas's right shoulder in an attempt to get him to awaken or so some signs of consciousness. Lucas's upper body now fell away from the driver's side door towards Bridger and onto his chest. Still there was no response from the youth but what Bridger saw made his heart almost stop.

Blood was streaming down the left hand side of Lucas's face. It looked to be coming from several different areas. There was a number of lacerations on his neck from the shattered glass and some of it looked to be oozing out of his ear.

"Lucas...," Bridger whispered, barely able to find the voice to talk.

Lucas remained silent and very still against him. His face was incredibly pale and the blood stood out in stark contrast.

* * *

Captain Nathan Bridger was now sitting in one of the corridors of the Prince George Memorial Hospital where the ambulance had taken Lucas after the accident.

Kristin was still in the emergency room with Lucas and the rest of the doctors and nursing staff trying to help the injured teenager.

The rest of the crew that had been in the second U.E.O. vehicle with Bridger were also seated in the waiting room but they sat a little away from the Captain at present.

Bridger was seated on his own, trying to gather his own thoughts away from all of the noise and chaos that was part of everyday hospital life.

In his mind he was going over and over what had happened outside the restaurant, then the tailing of Lucas's car. The whole accident scene had seemed to be played in slow motion. And then the actual shock at how he had found Lucas in what was left of a twisted wreck of a car.

Lucas had never regained consciousness back at the accident scene. The paramedics had arrived fairly quickly, but then there had been the time consuming chore of using the jaws of life to cut into the car and be able to move Lucas out without causing him to much more injury.

They had taken almost forty minutes to cut the teenager from the wrecked U.E.O. vehicle. Most of that time Bridger found himself and the rest of the crew only being able to be anxious and over-worried bystanders.

Thankfully there seemed to be no major injuries to Lucas's lower legs or body. The main areas of injury seemed to concentrate around the head and neck. Bridger didn't know if this was due to the teenager striking the steering wheel with his head due to the impact or from the shattered driver's side window as the vehicle careened out of control and struck the tree.

Bridger kept telling himself that he should be in the emergency room with Kristin as the doctor's worked on Lucas. That was the right thing to do wasn't it? At the moment he told himself that he didn't know much about what was right or wrong anymore.

He didn't know whether he would be any help right at the moment anyway or just more of a hindrance to the medical staff. He scolded himself and knew he had to pull himself together enough shortly to face Kristin, the doctors and Lucas himself once he woke up.

Kristin had now just emerged from the emergency room, still dressed in scrubs and half-way through removing her disposable gloves. There was a certain amount of blood smeared on the front of her hospital gown. Looking at it Bridger couldn't get around the face that it belonged to Lucas.

"He's stable at the moment," Kristin said before elaborating any further about the extent of Lucas's injuries and future diagnosis.

"Is he going to be alright?" Bridger found himself asking without thinking about it.

"I am not going to lie to you Nathan, Lucas has some injuries at the moment that we just don't know the severity of yet. He has a large amount of bruising on his left temple where his head struck the steering wheel," Kristin began explaining.

"He had some superficial lacerations to his neck that needed some minor attention, just that superficial. The glass from the shattered window cut him in a number of places but none where serious enough to require stitching," she continued knowing the most difficult explanation was yet to come.

"What is wrong with him that you can't tell yet?" Bridger now asked with hesitation in his voice. He was preparing to hear that Lucas might not walk again or something more drastic.

"The doctor's think he may have some damage to his ears from the accident," Kristin said plainly, not knowing of any other way to put it.

"His ears?" Bridger asked in a confused tone. An injury to his ears didn't sound any where near as bad as he was thinking when Kristen said they would have to wait and see.

"Because he is still unconscious, the extent of the damage is unknown at this stage," Kristin explained further. "There may be little or no damage at all, we just can't tell anything further until he wakes up and is able to tell us himself what he can hear."

"How long do you and the other doctor's think it will be until he begins to wake up?" Bridger now asked.

"Given the extent of the bruising on the side of his head I would say quite a while," Kristin said with disappointment in her voice. "He really did take a hard whack to the head. The doctor's think that it is this swelling that is the cause of his ear problems."

"They are going to move him into a private room very shortly, once they clean him up a little and get him out of his blood-stained clothes," Kristin further stated.

"Do you know which room yet?" Bridger asked as his brain still tried to process everything she had just told him.

"No but I will let you know as soon as I do, they are trying to organize it now," Kristin replied.

Kristin went back into the emergency room to sort out the final preparations for Lucas's hospital stay overnight and filled out the plethora of forms that were required by the administration department.

Bridger now went to see the rest of the crew and let them know what limited information he had already received about Lucas. They all listened patiently until the Captain was finished talking before asking any questions.

The crew's initial reaction was mostly shock and worry. They too didn't quite understand what the ear-problem might mean for their teenager friend. After a brief discussion, they all came to the conclusion that it was best that they all didn't try and stay to see Lucas tonight.

Mostly likely he wouldn't regain consciousness for quite a few hours anyway and even when he did there undoubtedly would be confusion, disorientation and uncertainty about the surroundings he would find himself waking up in.

The crew promised to return in only groups of two or three the next day when the teenager would be a little more well enough to receive visitors. Ben was on top of the list that wanted to see him first. He had even tried talking the Captain into letting him stay with Lucas for the night to make sure he was alright.

Bridger had completely understood Ben's wanting to stay, but in the end persuaded the Lieutenant and he would be of little or no help to his young friend unless he too got some rest.

* * *

Reluctantly Ben agreed to return the next day. Kristin suggested to Ben that he could be of more help to go to the island and gather some clothes for Lucas and some books to read. No doubt once Lucas was up and around back on his feet, it wouldn't take too long for boredom to set in if the hospital staff were of a mind to keep him in a little longer. At least this way Ben could feel like he was doing more than just visiting his injured friend.

About an hour after Kristin had talked to Bridger in the corridor about Lucas's prognosis and injuries, the teenager was now being settled into a private room on the 11th floor.

There wasn't too many machines hooked up to him to be worried about. There was a nasal tube to aid in breathing, but that was standard hospital procedure. There was one machine beside the bed with a monitor attached to Lucas's thumb. This was to monitor his heart rate and pulse. This too was just general procedure for a patient with head injuries.

Kristin had offered to go with Ben back to the island and get some things for herself and Bridger that they might need over the next couple of days. They planned to stay in a motel not too far from the hospital in case they were needed.

Bridger was now left alone with Lucas in the room. He walked over to the bed and tried to take in the images before him. Somehow things had changed in the blink of an eye. One minute they were all laughing and joking at one another, enjoying a casual drink and each other's company.

The next, the only thing Bridger could hear for company now was the monotonous beep of the heart/pulse machine beside Lucas's bed and the rhythmic sound of the teenager's breathing.

The bruising on Lucas's face was yet to come out fully. For now it looked bad enough with the motley shades of purple and blue beginning to appear at the base of his hairline and then proceed to extend down the side of his face almost to the jaw-line.

Bridger could see the small cuts that the window glass had made on the teenager's neck. Right now they looked rather thin and almost invisible to the naked eye if it wasn't for Lucas's slightly pale complexion.

A few hours ago, the sight that had greeted Bridger when the teenager's injured and unconscious body fell back against him, was a totally different one. Bridger knew it would take quite a few nights to forget about the blood that he had seen staining the still teenager's face.

Bridger now pulled up a chair and brought it closer to the side of the bed. He reached out his hand and took Lucas's sleep limp one laying across him. For a moment he was lost as to what he should say to the teenager. He knew Lucas couldn't hear him at the moment and was rather thankful for that. If the teenager was awake, the silence between them would be almost deafening.

"You're going to be alright, Lucas," Bridger now heard himself say. For a moment it sounded as if it wasn't his voice at all. "We are all here for you. You just get well again you hear?"

Somewhere in the back of Bridger's mind he was reminded that people who were unconscious and in coma's could sometimes hear their loved ones talking to them. He could remember hearing that they should be involved in everyday normal conversations as if they were really able to understand everything that was going on around them.

"You know we have got that extra maintenance due on the boat again after our leave," Bridger found himself saying. He tried to submerse himself in the everyday mundane routine of the SeaQuest, hoping that it would help bring the boy around a little quicker.

Bridger talked idly for a few more minutes, looking about the room some as he did so, trying to deflect his line of thought somewhat from the sight of Lucas's injuries. It wasn't until he looked back towards the bed that he saw a slightly opened pair of eyes looking back at him, not saying a word.

"Well, hello there," Bridger said with a smile. Part of him wanted to run out of the room to get the doctors to tell them that Lucas was awake. But the other part of him saw the slight confusion, even fright in the boy's expression and knew that he needed to stay for just a few more seconds before getting the doctors.

"You had us all worried you know that," Bridger now added, trying to keep the conversation casual and quiet so as not to startle the boy any more than necessary. "But you are going to be aright."

The boy still didn't answer, the confusion on his face very evident. He tried to move his head on the pillow from side to side and immediately screwed up his face at the pain that instantly resulted.

The young man laying on the bed frowned as if he were trying to figure something out. He tried to open his mouth to say something but the words seemed to catch in his throat. There was virtually no sound at all.

"Where are you hurting, Lucas?" Bridger now asked, already seeing the grimaces from the teenager when he tried to move his head. It seemed like the most logical question to ask at this point in time.

Lucas again tried to make words with his lips. The effort obvious. His head throbbed mercilessly and all his body wanted to do was retreat into the void of darkness away from light and pain.

The words finally came out. Barely above a whisper.

"Who are you?" the boy had asked..

Bridger wasn't even sure if he heard them correctly at first. When he realised that he had heard the boy's question, the effect of just three little words was almost too much. It was almost as bad as seeing the boy trapped inside the vehicle all over again covered in blood.

The teenager didn't repeat his question. The tiredness in his body took over and his eyes slowly closed again in a healing sleep. The words that he had uttered seemed to echo inside Bridger's mind.

TO BE CONTINUED...

**THOUGHT IT NEEDED FIXING UP IN A COUPLE OF PLACES AND ADDING TO THE END TO MAKE IT SOUND BETTER.**

**THE PROBLEM WITH THE EARS WILL BE EXPLAINED AS I GO - THE WHOLE IDEA IS THAT LATER ON WHEN LUCAS GOES BACK TO LAWRENCE IS HIS FATHER THINKS HE IS IGNORING HIM RATHER THAN NOT BEING ABLE TO HEAR WHAT HE YELLS AT HIM (HINT HINT)**

**I WAS ORIGINALLY GOING TO HAVE THE ACCIDENT ON THE ISLAND SO THAT BRIDGER AND THE OTHERS CAME ACROSS IT - BUT CHANGED MY MIND SO THAT THEY SEEN IT HAPPEN.**

**SOME MORE STUFF TO HAPPEN AT THE HOSPITAL NEXT BEFORE HE GETS TO GO BACK HOME AND START THINKING ABOUT LAWRENCE.**

**I SERIOUSLY CONSIDERED RETIRING AFTER I FINISHED BREATHE BUT I WILL TRY AND HOLD ON A BIT LONGER AND SEE HOW I GO.**

**KEEP READING AND HOPE YOU LIKE THE CHANGES**

JULES


	2. Who Are You ?

**THE FORGOTTEN YEARS**

**By JULES**

**CHAPTER TWO - WHO ARE YOU?**

**Author's Note – there will be some writing in "_italics" _that represents a**** flash back sequence or memories being recalled from Lucas's past with his father Lawrence.**

**Sometimes they will be associated with violent headaches other times by touching**** a certain item. There will not be a memory with everything he touches**** – just certain items and hopefully I have written the story logically enough to tell the difference between Lucas dreaming or remembering and real time events.**

**Please don't take offence by the new attitude that I have instilled into our favourite Lucas character. Seeming as how he doesn't remember who he is I decided it was time to write him exactly the opposite than I normally do, with all the traits of a teenager and the bad attitude and cheekiness to match.**

**I promise there will be some signs of our normal friend later on down the track. The nurse from hell was an idea that just came to me and I wanted to write her and Ben as bitter enemies from the start just to add a little spice to the story.**

**_and_****_ now on with the story……………………………………………_**

The next morning, Bridger was hoping that Lucas would be alert enough to talk to him about what had happened the night before. His hopes were quickly dashed though as it became clear that Lucas wasn't going to be waking up until he was ready.

The doctor's had already been on their first rounds of the day and their opinion of Lucas's condition hadn't altered much from what they had told the Captain the night before.

Lucas was no longer linked to any of the machines that had surrounded his bed the night before. After more than twelve hours of no significant deterioration in the teenager's condition apart from him not being more awake, even the nasal tube had been removed when it was clear that Lucas's lungs and airway had suffered no ill effects from the accident an he was able to breathe perfectly normally without any aid.

Nathan nodded and was very reluctant to leave the teenager until he at least showed signs of waking up. A nurse had bustled her way into the room in an abrupt fashion a few minutes earlier and demanded that Bridger fill out a plethora of forms relating to Lucas's admission.

The woman seemed to very uninterested in the patient on the bed and only mumbled something about the correct hospital procedures being adhered to on her ward. She had left Lucas's room shortly there after without so much as a greeting to Bridger or a question as to who he was or checking that he was supposed to be in the room in the first place.

The Captain finally sighed loudly and resigned himself to his task of filling out the numerous forms that needed a parent's or guardian's signature to admit Lucas to a ward in the hospital. He knew that this was all hospital policy to cover themselves but the only thing he was concerned with at present was waiting for the person in the bed to recover enough to take him back home.

About an hour later, Kristin came out into the waiting room where Bridger was still filling out the form. There were any number of questions that Bridger didn't know the answers to.

_What Lucas's blood type was? What his mother's maiden name had been? What if any allergies he might have had to certain types of medication?_

It was just another few hundred to add to the list that was headed up _THINGS NOT KNOWN ABOUT LUCAS_.

Being a guardian, anybody would have normally expected Bridger to know some of the answers. Lucas was a very private person and there was still a multitude of things from his past that he wanted to remain a secret even from his new Dad.

"How are you this morning Nathan?" Kristin asked but using her own eyes to judge for herself how much sleep Bridger had gotten overnight. Kristin's eyes then went straight to the sleeping figure in the bed, her eyes softening as soon as she saw the bruised face and pale complexion.

"Any change in him?" Kristin asked quietly.

"He regained consciousness for a brief few seconds last night after you left but nothing since then," Bridger informed her. "The doctor's have already completed their rounds and are happy enough with his progress so far."

"That certainly is a positive then," Kristin replied, trying to keep up Nathan's hopes as well as her own inner strength. "He just needs to rest and let his body heal some before waking again," she added, noting the unasked question on Bridger's face about when Lucas would wake again.

Kristin now walked to the end of the bed and picked up Lucas's chart that hung from a railing on the end. Fortunately enough she knew what the scrawled letters and symbols meant about the young man's recovery. She could see that the doctor's had yet to make any informed opinion about Lucas's hearing. There was no mention of any problem on the chart itself that she could immediately see.

"I'll just opened a window a little in the room to allow the air to circulate some" she said, "And then you and me can go downstairs and get some coffee and breakfast for a few minutes."

"That's if Attila the Nun doesn't come back and rouse on you for upsetting her room," Bridger said as he recounted the less than cheery encounter he had with the nurse earlier. He held out all the forms to Kristen that he had been given.

"Oh, she is probably just pushing her weight around a little," Kristin said. Many years of experience had learned her of the way some nurses in large hospitals cared for their patients. Some of them had a little or no bed side manner at all.

"I would love the coffee but don't really want to leave Lucas alone in case he should start waking up," Bridger said to Kristin.

"Knock knock," came an unexpected voice at the door. Both Bridger and Kristin turned to see Ben Krieg standing in the doorway with a parcel under his arm.

"I hope that I am not interrupting anything Sir," he said with a smirk on his face.

"Come in, Ben," Bridger said, ignoring the jibe from the Lieutenant about himself and Kristin. "What have you got there?" he asked, spotting the package under the man's arm.

"Just a little something for my little friend there," Ben said trying to look around Bridger's shoulder to see Lucas for himself. He could see the teenager sleeping in the bed but swallowed a little when he recalled what he had seen happen during the accident.

"I'll leave in here for him later when he is feeling a lot better," Ben said and walked over to the small cabinet beside Lucas's hospital bed and placed the package on one of the shelves.

"Your just the person I was looking for, Mr Krieg," Kristin said, using the current situation to her own advantage.

"The Captain and I were just heading down to the hospital cafeteria for some coffee and breakfast. Would you mind if I asked you to stay here with Lucas until we get back? He might wake up and be a little afraid if he doesn't realize where he is."

"I don't mind at all," Ben said, failing to note the satisfied look from Kristin to Bridger that she had won the battle.

"Come on then, Captain, let's get that coffee you wanted. Lucas is in good hands," Kristin said, pushing Bridger towards the doorway.

"We shouldn't be gone too long, Ben," Bridger said and took another brief glimpse at Lucas sleeping in the bed.

"Take as long as you like, Lucasman and me will be just fine," Ben said with a smile. It wasn't until he turned away from watching the Captain and the doctor leave that the smile was quickly replaced by a sense of helplessness.

* * *

Ben now walked around to the chair that Bridger had occupied earlier. Somehow his eyes kept being drawn to the large bruise on the side of Lucas's face. It wasn't something you could just over look. Most of the swelling had now subsided, leaving behind the angry and blackish stain. The Lieutenant couldn't think of anything else but how painful it was going to be for Lucas.

Krieg now forced himself to sit on the chair for no other reason than to stop himself from pacing backwards and forwards in the room, wearing a hole in the linoleum floor out of concern and worry over his friend. Unlike the Captain, Ben had no idea about how he should act around someone who wasn't awake to hear words of support or reassurance.

Was he supposed to just sit there and watch until the teenager showed some sign of waking up or should he take a more active role and try and coax the boy awake gently by talking softly?

Somehow Ben doubted he would even know the right words to say in the first place. Katie had always told him that for every ounce of jokester or prankster ability that Ben possessed during their brief marriage, he still had to learn about how to be tender and compassionate.

_'That's was great advice back then when we were fighting_' Ben said angrily to himself. Where was Katie now with her infinite words of what he should be doing and not doing.

Finally Ben decided that if he couldn't find any words to Lucas that might help, then he would just help as best he could by merely being there. Ben didn't like seeing his young friend in hospital like this and it tore him up inside to think of what pain Lucas had already experienced or was yet to feel.

Ben placed his own hand over Lucas's as it lay beside him and gave it a gentle squeeze. Not too hard so as to disturb the rest that the teenager obviously needed, but enough to let Lucas know that there was somebody looking out for him.

As the time passed very slowly, Ben found himself looking down at the floor, lost in his own thoughts about how this accident had happened and whose fault it was. Of course the other reckless driver was to blame but Ben kept asking himself all the _"What If" _questions about what he might have been able to do to prevent Lucas leaving the restaurant and bar in the first place.

It had been plain for all to see that Lucas had been upset about something that had been said between him and the stranger that arrived. Why hadn't he asked more questions of the teenager back then and forced Lucas to talk to him about what was bothering him?

* * *

The world was coming back to Lucas very slowly. He couldn't tell if he was still asleep or awake, somewhere in between he guessed. On that higher plateau between consciousness and being unaware of one's surroundings.

He tried to let the gray veil lift a little before trying to think any more. His head felt as though it was stuffed with cotton wool and everything around him felt incredibly heavy.

Lucas sensed somebody holding his hand but at first it didn't register who it might have been. He was still trying to figure out where he was and why and why the hell he hurt so bad.

_'Try and think of simple things first' _he pointed out to himself. '_First, what is your name?'_

His mind was totally blank. Inwardly he frowned and tried to concentrate harder on remembering something so easy as his own first name. He panicked a little but tried to calm himself down by thinking of an alternative question that would hopefully allow the answer to the first one to pop in his head at any moment.

_'Where are you?' _asking the second question. Again no answer came, only more confusion and anxiety. When he forced himself to take a breath and think of where he last remembered, all he could see was a bright light.

_'I don't know who I am' _he said out loud to himself and immediately snapped open his eyes to look around at where he was. The panic in him started to rise to the surface again as he fought to keep control of his fear.

_'I don't know who I am' _he repeated, allowing his eyes to settle on the figure of someone sitting beside him in a chair. He could feel this person gently squeezing his hand. He could see the person was a man and that he had dark hair because his head was bowed forward at present.

Lucas tried desperately to think of who the person was. Maybe they could tell him what had happened and what his name was. Still, the answer didn't come and his head now began to throb from the efforts of remembering.

_'I don't know who he is either' _Lucas stated to himself and genuinely started to think that he was going crazy. He went to put his hand to his head where the headache was steadily increasing in pain. When he moved his hand and moaned audibly, he alerted the man in the chair beside him of being awake.

"Lucas!" the man said, jumping up out of excitement that the teenager was at last showing some signs of waking up. He recoiled back though as he looked at the stricken look he was receiving from the boy in return. He could see the pain Lucas was feeling reflected in his sky blue eyes, but he could also sense another emotion: **_fear_**.

"Are you alright, Lucas?" Ben asked, putting a hand on the boy's shoulder and trying to get him to focus on the question. Lucas found himself pulling away from the man's touch. His mind was telling him that the person meant him no harm, but he was no more closer to knowing the man's identity.

Lucas could only reply to Ben's question with a long drawn out moan that was a mixture of the pain from his headache and the frustration he was feeling that he couldn't recognize anyone. To tell the truth he hadn't even noted that he was being spoken to. His shut his eyes to try and block out some of the glare from the fluorescent lighting.

Lucas decided to try and at least talk to the man and ask some questions of his own that might shed some light on his memory loss. He looked over at the bedside cabinet, hoping that some cool refreshing water might help soothe his throat and give him back some strength.

Ben could see Lucas looking at the table, "Do you want a drink Lucas?"

Lucas could see the man's mouth moving, indicating he was talking, but the cotton wool feeling inside his head didn't allow him to hear what was being said. The man was gesturing with his hands as well as he spoke, but Lucas still wasn't able to decipher what he was trying to ask.

Lucas felt a little embarrassed that he couldn't find his voice to ask the man for assistance. Ben looked over at the table and around the room and noted to his surprise that there seemed to be no jug of water or cup anywhere in the room.

Ben looked up at the sign over Lucas's headboard that had the dietary instructions for the medical staff. The sign clearly noted_ 'Full Diet Allowed'_ so there wasn't any reason why he should not be given a drink.

The Lieutenant also tried to look around for a buzzer or switch near Lucas's bed that could be used to alert a nurse to the room. Again there wasn't one he could see immediately but he could see that Lucas was trying to get some moisture back into his mouth. What kind of hospital room was this, devoid of anything that was remotely necessary for someone's recovery?

"I'll go and find a nurse and a drink of water, Lucas, I promise I won't be gone but a few seconds," Ben said, not wanting to leave the teenager alone for any reason. Lucas still didn't know what he was being told but could see the man leaving the room. He had seen the man trying to look for something on top of the cabinet and guessed that he knew of the teenager's thirst.

**_(Authors Note: You will have to suspend reality here and believe that it took an extraordinary amount of time for Ben to head down the corridor – first he had to find the nurse and then get the jug and then walk all the way further down the corridor to find the only water fountain for miles……………. you get the general idea – I need to buy some time for Lucas to try and get out of bed on his own.)_**

After Ben had left to go down the corridor, Lucas became aware of another more urgent need that had to be attended to. He didn't really want to rely on the man who had just be in the room to help him with such a personal matter and despite the headache that had yet to ease, he couldn't feel anything else that would prevent him getting out of the bed on his own. The painkillers in his system gave him a false sense of normality.

Lucas started to push his body into a sitting position and was shocked at how much energy such a simple task required of his body. Every muscle within him seemed to protest at the same time and he moaned out loud at the corresponding aches that resulted from his continued efforts.

Eventually his persistence paid off and he was able to throw back the thin blanket and sheet on the bed and swing his legs over the edge. He paused for a few seconds, waiting for the giddiness he was feeling to subside. He closed his eyes and tried to focus on breathing evenly to stop the spinning sensation.

The pain from his headache seemed to multiply to new heights from his upright position and he even considered the idea of laying back down. Lucas pressed two fingers to the area of his temple that hurt the most. He was still unaware of the bruising that was on his face and he winced out loud at the secondary pain that resulted in even the slightest amount of pressure to the skin.

From looking down at his attire, Lucas could see that he was only clad in a hospital style pair of pyjamas. They were much to big for his thin frame and seemed to cling to him awkwardly. He would have to rectify that situation later and change into a t-shirt and pair of shorts.

With the initial giddiness beginning to fade to a more tolerable level, Lucas now dared to put his two feet onto the cold floor and attempt to stand up ready to take a few steps. He still had a hand on the bed in case he should falter too soon. The giddiness began to return immediately but Lucas forced himself to try and keep upright.

Lucas looked about the room and was thankful that there was an internal bathroom. At least he wouldn't be totally humiliated by having to stumble down the corridor in front of an observing crowd.

It was only a short distance from his bed to, less than ten large steps he would guess. Right at this point in time though he was unsure if he would be able to make ten centimetres without falling flat on his face. Lucas's fierce inbred sense of independence began to show through though and he was determined that he could do this on his own, just a little slower than he would have liked.

Lucas determination paid off a little at first. He had managed to make it to the bathroom and take care of his personal needs but it was the walk back towards his bed that would prove to be his undoing.

Lucas had over estimated the amount of energy he would have to use to make the trip to the small bathroom and back. The giddiness had not only returned but was now reinforced by an sense of dizziness that disorientated the teenager. He legs were now trembling very badly and the ache in the muscles was only bearable through clenched teeth.

Lucas could feel the gray veil descending over his eyes again, making the objects in front of him blur slightly. He reached out with his arms, trying to regain and more stable footing and prevent himself falling.

The headache in his temples peaked again and left Lucas shuddering from the pain. He felt his knees buckle underneath him but could do nothing to stop his ungainly descent to the floor. He vaguely remembered his arm knocking against a metal tray as he fell, but little else before the darkness surrounded him and he reluctantly surrendered………

* * *

Captain Bridger and Kristin had been chatting as they exited the elevator on Lucas's ward when they walked a short distance down the corridor to find Ben Krieg in a heated argument with the nurse Bridger had met earlier. From their observations the Lieutenant was not the least bit threatened by the woman's size or imposing stance.

The argument was taking place just outside Lucas's room door and in front of a number of doctors and nurses at a reception desk. All stopped what they had been doing to watch the ensuing battle of words between their head nurse and the handsome, dark-haired man.

Bridger wondered why Ben had left Lucas alone in his room in the first place and wanted the noise level to drop so as not to disturb the teenager or any other nearby patients. The volume from the two waring parties could be plainly heard by all.

"Listen lady, I don't care who you are in this place, I tell you I had to go and get the jug myself and then fill it. It's just not good enough that my friend is laying in that hospital bed getting second class treatment," Ben said force.

"Ben, do you mind telling me what is going on here?" Bridger asked, putting a gentle restraining hand on the Lieutenant's arm to prevent the argument escalating any further.

"This man is trying to tell me how I should run my hospital ward," the nurse said, glaring back at Krieg as if she would spit fire at him. "I run an efficient ward and will not have somebody accuse me of neglecting my patients under any circumstances."

"All I am saying is that, if this ward was as efficient as you say………………….., then I wouldn't have had to leave Lucas's room to go and get him something so simple as a jug of water to drink. There was no jug in the room, no cup. There wasn't even a buzzer of any description that I could find to alert one of your nurses to the room," Ben accused hotly.

Bridger and Kristin finally understood what Ben was disturbed over and they too were a little concerned about such a simple but vital thing as water was missing from a patient's room. They didn't object that something needed to be said to the proper person in charge. Ben was just a little more out-front with his methods of how to handle some situations.

"Ha that's were you are wrong, Mister," the nurse said, jumping at Ben's mistake. "There is a communication cord in the bottom drawer of the cabinet of every patient's room. I choose not to have them on open display so as to encourage over use or abuse of them."

"Abuse of them……….." Ben said, scarcely able to control his temper. "What if somebody _actually _needed one of them?" he demanded.

"Then they can be used on the rare occasions that a patient should require anything in between frequent monitoring by myself or my staff," the nurse replied. "The patients on this ward are monitored on a strict routine and I don't aim to alter my practices."

"But what if the patient can't use the buzzer himself because he is unconscious," Ben asked, not realising until he said the words that the concept prove impossible and absurd. Bridger had to hide the chuckle he had as he listened.

"If he was unconscious then he wouldn't need to use the buzzer to alert staff," the nurse replied with a smug grin, knowing that she had out smarted the man by his own words.

"Well that's beside the point…………." Ben started to say in his own self-defence.

He was interrupted mid-sentence by a crashing sound coming from adjacent to him. Everyone looked towards Lucas's room, sure that the noise had come from that direction. A doctor and nurse at the reception desk also followed Bridger and the others as they rushed to see the cause.

"Oh my God, Lucas," Bridger said in utter disbelief as he saw the crumpled teenager laying on the cold floor. He wasted no time in kneeling beside the boy and trying to assess the damage.

"Happy now!" Ben shot back at the head-nurse behind him and shoved the jug of water at the woman, as he watched Kristen help the Captain lift Lucas from the floor and take him back to the bed.

The head-nurse did feel all eyes on her at the moment and decided to reflect the blame from herself somewhat as she walked to the cabinet and placed the water jug and a cup within reaching distance. She then proceeded to retrieve the communication buzzer from within the bottom drawer and plug it into the power outlet behind the bed.

Satisfied that there were enough people in the room to take care of the fallen patient and wanting to put a little space between herself and the wrath from the boy's family, left the room unnoticed and returned to the rest of her duties.

"Is he alright?" Ben said, trying to look over the shoulder of the attending doctor. Bridger and Kristen were on the other side of the bed, also trying to see Lucas for their own peace of mind.

The doctor had a gentle nature and understood the concern of the three people in the room about the boy's condition. He knew that the young man had suffered a nasty knock to the head only the day before and he should never have been allowed to get out of bed until his condition had been reviewed and further evaluated.

He had witnessed the argument between the head nurse and the man and knew that the nurse had a tendency to over-efficient at her job. She was a very qualified nurse and knew every correct procedure, but by becoming the best she had forgotten about the human side of such nursing care.

The young man had just been involved in a horrific accident, apparently even witnessed by the family themselves and one could only imagine what sort of images flashed before them every time they looked upon the pale figure in the bed.

There was still an amount of uncertainty as to the extent of his injuries and there was enough tension between everyone to suffocate. The doctor knew that calm and rational explanations were the only course of action at this point in time.

"He will be okay," the doctor said, visibly seeing the man and woman in front of him relax their shoulders in relief. He heard the rush of relief from Ben's lips behind him as well.

"Lucas is still suffering the effects of a serious concussion and it will be some time I would think before he will regain his balance and equilibrium. Therefore his movements out of this bed need to be restricted and carefully monitored."

"Miss Tollinger may seem to have a harsh exterior to some, but I assure you that her nursing skills cannot be questioned and she will take good care of Lucas," the doctor said to the trio, trying to deter any fears they had about her future involvement in the teenager's recovery.

Ben couldn't help himself but think of an alternative name for the woman: _Miss Troll. _He promised himself and Lucas that he would make sure she did not neglect her care of Lucas.

Bridger's attention was drawn away from the doctor's explanation to movement from Lucas, indicating that he was regaining consciousness. Lucas reached up with a hand and tried to touch the area that hurt the most, wincing again as his fingertips come into contact with the bruise on the side of his face.

"Lucas…….. Lucas can you hear me?" Bridger asked in a gentle voice, not wanting to rush the teenager all at once. He could scarcely contain himself though as he waited for the boy to give him a response.

Lucas didn't hear the question being asked of him, but he did feel somebody else's presence close again. He tried to open his eyes again and rewarded those around the bed with blue eyes and a grimace.

"Give him a little time," the doctor said to Bridger.

It was plain for all to see though that when Lucas looked back at them there was no recognition for any of their faces in his expression. Lucas turned his head from one face to the other, taking a little time at each to try and place a name for them. His head ached dreadfully from the movement required.

"Do you know where you are son?" the doctor asked, trying to keep the questions simple.

Lucas had not heard the question and was looking at Kristen when the doctor spoke. He was unaware the doctor was even talking to him. Kristen smiled at the confused teenager and then nodded her head at the doctor wanting Lucas to face him.

"W-what………," came the whispered croak. His voice was still lacking. Ben now reached over and poured the glass of water he had gone to get some time ago and held the glass to Lucas's pale lips.

The sips were very small at first, but thankfully Bridger could see Lucas's throat working voluntarily in a swallowing action. The boy managed about a quarter of the contents before putting his hand over the rim of the glass, signalling that he could take no more.

The first question he was going to ask had been forgotten so he tried to think of another. The headache inside his head was clearly getting worse and the spinning sensation had started again to a small degree.

"Where am I?" came the barely audible query, Lucas's head bowed with his eyes shut the whole time he was talking.

"You are in the hospital, Lucas. You were involved in a very serious car accident and were hurt but you are going to be alright," the doctor explained, trying not to flood the boy's mind with too much information.

Lucas didn't hear any comments from the doctor and looked up to see why his question had not been answered yet. "Where am I," he asked, frustration and pain etched in fatigue on his handsome face.

Bridger looked from Kristen to Ben to the doctor, a little confused as to why the teenager was asking a question that had just been answered.

"Who are you people anyway?" Lucas asked not really wanting an answer, but wishing the incessant throbbing in his head would go away.

Bridger was more concerned than ever now and placed a gentle hand on Lucas's chin and making the teenager look directly at him while he spoke. "Do you know who you are?" he proceeded to ask.

Just as before with the darker-haired man, Lucas could see the other stranger talking to him. He could see the man's mouth moving, but he couldn't hear a single syllable coming from them.

"I can't hear you, speak up damn it!" Lucas said clearly annoyed with himself more than the Captain. The pain was doing the talking for him and he continually scrunched up his face to try and ease some of the torment.

Bridger still held the boy's attention with his hand and his eyes and repeated the question: "Do you know who you are?".

"Don't whisper, speak up," Lucas demanded but was rewarded by his headache growing worse again. He brought up both arms and tried to wrap them protectively around his head to stop the pain.

Kristin was directing her comments at the doctor and Nathan, but for some reason all Lucas saw was her talking and him not being able to hear what was going on.

"I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" Lucas shouted again, groaning out loud at the resulting pain. He slumped back against the pillows and tried to bury his head into them as deeply as possible, looking for any kind of relief or comfort he could find.

The doctor motioned for the nurse nearby to prepare a painkiller and sedative for the boy. He was clearly distressed by the pain and what he thought was going on around him. The shouting wasn't doing him any good and he clearly needed something to help his pain. He also needed to rest and give his body some time to recuperate and understand what had happened to him. It was all too overwhelming for him at the moment.

Lucas barely noticed what the doctor was doing until he felt the slight prick and sting to his upper arm. He jerked his arm in attempt to escape the cause but the doctor had a firm grip and did not allow the boy to have his way.

With the syringe now taken away, the doctor knew the sedative would be working before the painkiller. He patiently waited to see the effects on the young man and soon saw the boy's eyes droop. The boy fought hard to stay awake at first, angry that these people were standing over him when he didn't know who they were.

Lucas's eyelids began to close again and this time the boy could do very little to stop them from doing do. His arms and legs were beginning to feel numb and he thought that he was starting to float. A few brief flutters and the boy's eyes did not open again. His head lolled to one side, resting against Bridger' hand that had remained.

* * *

Ben sagged in relief as he watched Lucas fall asleep. He couldn't remember being so scared in his life as when Lucas was asking who they were. Surely the teenager knew who his friends and family were.

Bridger couldn't hide his own relief that the teenager's torment was at least eased for a little time. He too wondered why Lucas was so distressed and wanting to know who they were. The worries and concerns he had when Lucas was first brought in were beginning to mount again as it became clear that some of the diagnosis had been incomplete about his condition.

Kristin put her own feelings and concerns into fussing over the sheets and blankets and arranging them over Lucas's sleeping form. Her eyes had become a little misty at the thought of what might lay ahead of the injured teenager.

Bridger had told Ben about Lucas looking back at him and trying to speak the previous night. He then added the part about the teenager not recognizing him and asking who he was.

"Amnesia is a very common side-effect of such a nasty head injury, Captain Bridger," came the explanation from the doctor.

"I would have been surprised for Lucas not to have had some residual memory loss given the force with which he struck his head. The bruising on his face is evidence as to the amount of pain he is feeling. No doubt he is also experiencing some very powerful headaches."

"Whether it is something that comes and goes or is more permanent only time will tell. We will have to do some tests and talk to Lucas some more after he is a little more relaxed and calm," he added, trying to give the family a little reassurance.

"Is that the best advice you can give!," Bridger said, finding it hard to hide his sharp tone of voice. "Sorry Lucas but we don't know what's wrong with you so we will wait until you can tell us. What if he wakes up and still doesn't know who we are?" Bridger asked accusingly.

"How about you get some rest now Captain and we will see how Lucas is fairing a little later on," the doctor's said, noting the frustration not uncommon in parents who were forced to see their children suffer.

"I'll try and explain as best as I can what signs we should be looking out for. If you are determined to stay with him the entire time like I suspect, you will probably note these differences in his personality before any of the hospital staff," the doctor began.

"What can we do to help him doctor?" Ben asked as the furrow of worried on his brow deepened. "He seems in so much pain right now and angry because of it,"

"Actually feeling anger is a part of getting through it," the doctor replied as he looked towards the sleeping patient. "I know it doesn't make much sense right now, but the things that Lucas was just doing and the emotions he is going through are all perfectly normal for someone who has been through something like this."

"There are a few phases people often go through when they experience a traumatic event and they include mood swings like guilty, angry, withdrawal and denial. Lucas might experience any one of these or all of them at any stage or sometimes together in any random selection. There is no real way of knowing what is going to be like from one day to the next for a few days. Lucas and you all just have to take one day at a time and adjust accordingly depending on how he is coping that particular day," the man explained.

"But is just being there enough?" Bridger asked, feeling a little helpless that they all they could do was sit and watch mostly as Lucas was forced to battle most of the pain and confusion on his own.

"In Lucas's case, if he is someone who tends to let emotions get the better of him, I'd said yes. For a while he may seem secretive and withdrawn, even angry and bitter, but then after the initial shock wears off some, he will be looking for someone to talk to. To tell how he was feeling then and now and that's when he will probably turn to one of you or all of you to share those feelings with." the doctor continued.

"Let me know if there are any other unusual symptoms beginning to appear," said as he prepared to leave with the nurse.

Sometimes the hardest part of his job of medicine was not knowing the answers to give his patients or their families. Everyone looked to them for advice but sometimes it just wasn't there to give and sometimes the hardest wounds to heal of all were those you couldn't see on the outside.

TO BE CONTINUED……………………………..

**Don't worry, Lucas will regain his memory at various stages in this story. He hasn't had too many flashbacks yet but they will come. There will be some things he remembers straight away and others that he doesn't.**

**The reunion between Lawrence and Lucas is a little way off as is a doozey of a fight between Lucas and Bridger after the hospital that I am just dying to write.**

**I am hoping to extend the dislike about the nurse from Ben to Lucas and hope to write some interesting stuff between her and trying to get Lucas to do things when he can't hear. I also have a neat idea later on about how Lucas would communicate apart from paper notes and watching lips – hope you will stick around long enough to read.**

**Please read and enjoy and review to this chapter.**

**JULES – slinking away to write secretly on her other fandoms.**


	3. Remembering

**THE FORGOTTEN YEARS**

**By JULES**

**CHAPTER THREE - REMEMBERING**

**Author's Note – there will be some writing in "_italics" _that represents a**** flash back sequence or memories being recalled from Lucas's past with his**** father Lawrence.**

**Sometimes they will be associated with violent headaches other times by touching**** a certain item. There will not be a memory with everything he touches**** – just certain items and hopefully I have written the story logically enough to tell the difference between Lucas dreaming or remembering and real time events.**

**Please don't take offence by the new attitude that I have instilled into our favourite**** Lucas character. Seeming as how he doesn't remember who he is I decided it was time to write him exactly the opposite than I normally do, with all the traits of a teenager and the bad attitude and cheekiness to match.**

**I promise there will be some signs of our normal friend later on down the track****. The nurse from hell was an idea that just came to me and I wanted to write her and Lucas as bitter enemies from the start just to add a little spice to the story.**

Sara – I know I have said it before but I am trying to update a few of the unfinished stories as quickly as I can.

Shadow – Thanks for the very kind comments. Sorry it took so long for the update. Hope you enjoy the new part just as much.

Kas – Carrying on – just very slowly for the readers unfortunately.

Cadnobach – so glad you are hooked on this story – hope you enjoy this new piece.

Kiddo – more just for you and your nice words.

Frankie McStein – So many possibilities – that's the truth with this one – the idea for this has been in my head for quite a while – the trouble is getting it out from the other 20 stories in there.

Christine – So glad you are reading my other stuff as well as this story. Makes me feel happy all over. Cliff Hangers are my speciality. Can't help myself.

**_and_****_ now on with the story……………………………………………_**

Bridger found out that the doctor could not provide a very accurate timeline for how long Lucas might be required to stay in hospital. Lucas had been sedated after he had gotten so agitated and it had been a very frightening experience to witness for his family and friends.

They had allowed Lucas to rest peacefully for a few hours, and then the doctor had thought it a good time to examine the unconscious youth's ears. They had all heard the teenager cry out as he struggled that he couldn't hear them. He wanted to find the problem and the best way to do that was while his patient was in no condition to resist.

"What can you tell?" Kristin asked anxiously as she stood behind the doctor, trying her best not to question his every movement or medical diagnosis. She wanted to see for herself, but allowed the man to do his job.

Bridger and Ben were also in the room and were just as nervous as Kristin to hear the doctor's opinion.

"There is definitely some swelling in the inner ear. I'd place a sure bet that it is what is causing Lucas the discomfort at the moment and the hearing loss," the doctor explained.

"Can you estimate how much loss he had sustained?" Kristin asked in a serious tone, knowing the risks involved with such injuries.

"Not until he is awake and I can test his hearing properly," he commented. "I could guess all I wanted, but the only real way of knowing is to talk to Lucas himself."

"That's only going to add to his frustrations, isn't it?" Kristin said, voicing her fears.

"Probably make things a little scarier for him for a while. A silent world would be a new experience for him and may make him withdraw within himself more. He will mostly likely be a little more insecure about his surroundings and those people he interacts with," the doctor replied.

It will take us a little time to learn how to treat him and act around him," Bridger commented, having had only limited contact time with deaf people before. Now that it was someone much closer to him, the reality of what they were faced with was daunting to say the least.

"Don't be fooled into the trap of acting too differently around him or treating him very differently from how you would normally do so," the doctor warned. "People's biggest mistake when they find out about a loved one's new found disability or impairment is to make them feel more isolated and vulnerable."

"That only makes them set up higher defences around themselves, making getting around them and accepting the change to be even harder and drawn out than it needs to be," he continued. "Our primary concern at the moment is trying to assess if there is any damage, permanent or temporary to his hearing."

"If you will allow me to, I would like to help in telling the young man once he wakes. I have a few strategies that will hopefully lessen the blow of hearing such news. It isn't going to be easy and no doubt he will still need a lot of reassurance and understanding," the doctor offered.

"We would all be very grateful with any help," Bridger responded. "What do you need us to do?"

"While he is still sleeping, I will have us write down a few basic questions and answers for when he wakes. Before he has a chance to get angry that he can't hear anyone or recognize any of your faces, we can give him some brief information that should allow us some time for a more detailed diagnosis. Of course, it will help if you and Doctor Westphalen could be present when he does wake."

"We had no intentions of leaving here," Kristin confirmed. "Let's get started."

* * *

Much to the disappointment of all in the room, Lucas's drug induced sleep lasted a little longer than they anticipated. Obviously due to a combination of the sedative he had been injected with and the exhaustion of his body after the accident.

All of them in the room knew of the importance of rest during this critical stage in his recovery. They were not willing to wake him prematurely just to see if the theory about his hearing was correct.

Ben had been ushered out of the room a short time ago, none to happy about the situation, but understanding that they needed the most influential people in Lucas's room. He would no doubt play a much larger role later when and if Lucas's hearing loss became a reality.

For the time being that left Bridger, Kristin and the doctor left in the room waiting anxiously for any signs that the teenager might be waking up. Though the clock seemed to tick by in seconds rather than minutes, they were rewarded for their patience by an audible groan coming from the pillow on the bed.

The three gave the teenager as much time as he needed to awaken on his own and not be startled upon seeing them all gathered around his hospital bed. Lucas opened his eyes, the confusion and lack of recognition on his face still evident as it had been earlier. At least now the terseness had dissipated and had been replaced by nervousness and curiosity.

Lucas was about to say something to the three standing before him, but was stopped with the doctor getting in first and handing him a piece of paper to read.

**"Lucas, I am a doctor at this hospital. I think you may have some damage to your ears that is causing you hearing problems."**

The doctor waited until the teenager read the words and comprehended what had been said to him. Lucas looked back at the doctor and then towards the other two people in the room, perhaps a little more worried now that someone was telling him there maybe a problem with his hearing.

**"Until we can be sure, I think communicating by writing is a good way for us to talk to each other without getting upset."**

Lucas nodded his head in agreement, and waited for the doctor to write and explain further.

**"I am going to say something out loud now. I know you will be able to see my lips moving. I want you to tell me, either by words or nodding your head if you can hear anything at all."**

Lucas nodded that he understood what the experiment was to be.

"Can you hear me talking to you, Lucas?" the doctor asked out loud. Lucas watched the man speak, but to there dismay shook his head in a negative gesture indicating that he couldn't hear any sound from the doctor as he spoke.

**"Was there a ringing or buzzing sensation?"**

Lucas thought hard for a minute, knowing that it was an important piece of information. Now that he did think, there was a slight buzzing sound. If he concentrated hard enough now, he could still hear a distinct buzzing sound inside his head. It was getting drowned out by the headache that was still present and persisted.

"There is a buzzing sound inside my head. It hurts to concentrate on it too hard," Lucas admitted, deciding it easier to talk his responses rather than write them down. There was nothing wrong with anybody else's hearing.

Kristin and the doctor felt a slight sense of relief at this information. It meant that the damage was probably only temporary. How long the deafness would last, they were still not able to determine. She voiced her opinions to Bridger, pleased to see a smile cross his face too at such news.

The fact that everyone in the room had a pleasant look on their faces now, gave Lucas a glimmer of hope that all was not a total disaster. The doctor decided to share the good signs with the teenager, trying to involve him in the process as much as possible.

**"Lucas, that buzzing sensation, although a little annoying at times, tells me that the hearing loss is only temporary. I will take a look inside your ears now and see if I can tell anything further."**

Not giving away that such an examination had already been performed while he was sedated.

Lucas sat as patiently as he could while the doctor used a small probe to look inside his ear. The right one still had the buzzing sensation, but there was no discomfort as the doctor went about his assessment. The left ear however was a different story. The doctor had barely touched the side of the outer ear when Lucas bit back a whimper of pain.

The doctor apologized, pulling the probe out slowly, but still carrying out his examination as best he could without causing any further discomfort to the young man. It was clear now that the right ear had suffered more damage than the left and was the major cause of the hearing impairment.

Lucas wasn't quite sure how to brooch this next difficult subject, but knew he couldn't put it off much longer. Now was as good a time as any. "Doctor, I still don't know who these people are or who I am,!" he stated plainly.

The doctor seemed to heed the young man's distress and finished his probe and went about explaining the other symptoms that he was displaying due to the injuries from the accident.

"I estimate that there may be as little as 10 percent damage to the right ear. I think hearing will be restored to that ear first and within a relatively short period of time. The right is difficult to assess due to the discomfort that Lucas is experiencing. I suspect the loss in the right ear could be as much as 90 percent at the moment. It will take considerably longer to heal than the left side," the doctor explained medically.

"I would assume some problems initially with his sense of balance due to this. So don't go letting him walk down any steep sets of stairs for a while. Once he is able to move about more freely, you might need to have someone accompany him on walks or any other physical activity until his full equilibrium is restored," the doctor added as he pondered the effects of the hearing loss on Lucas's other body senses.

He began writing again, this time, the note was a little longer. Kristin and Bridger had a fair idea on what the content of the note was, but it didn't make it any easier for them standing there, waiting to see the possible reaction or non-reaction.

**"Lucas, you were in a car accident. A very serious one. When you crashed your car, you hit your head very hard against the driver's side window. That is why you're hearing has been affected. In addition to that, it seems that you have some form of amnesia. How far it extends seems to be a mystery at the moment. We had a little indication of it when you first woke in the hospital, because you didn't recognize any of these people here."**

**"Amnesia is a very common injury to the head after it has suffered trauma like you have. What is different with each patient, is the extent of the memory loss or the length of time it might take to regain your recognition or memories."**

**"In your case, you seem to be able to recognize objects and things around you. You can name objects in this room for instance. But your major hurdle seems to be in the form of memory loss, where you are unable to recognize family, friends or recent events. And when I say recent events, that means not just things that happened last week, but it also includes things that happened say in your childhood or some time ago."**

"Is there a cure?" Lucas blurted out, not really knowing what else to say. He now had an explanation, but upon considering what he had just been told, maybe he didn't want to know. Sometimes it was better not to know at all.

The doctor smiled, knowing it to be exactly the normal thing to ask. "Yes, there is," he said, gently patting the boy's shoulder for reassurance. The doctor now stood up as he handed the teenager another note.

**"It involves some rehabilitation. Some of which can be offered by your closest friends and family. But it also requires rest from you and not to exert yourself when your body is telling you to relax or rest. The more you are anxious or tired, the less likely that your brain will be able to focus on the past and help you remember."**

"But I don't even know who I am," Lucas said, regretting that it sounded like pouting rather than a statement. He couldn't help but feel a little afraid of what the future might bring. How long was he going to be unable to remember? How long was he going to be deaf and have to communicate with written notes all the time?

**"Right now, I want to you have a light meal before going back to sleep to counteract the residual effects of the sedative you were given. After that, today I want you just to relax and rest as much as possible. Your guardians here can help you with simple things today like your name and who they are. But we will wait until tomorrow to begin trying to stimulate your memory into remembering for itself."**

"But I want to remember TODAY," Lucas said, finding it difficult to get used to the idea that time was not his ally at the moment.

**"I know you do, Lucas. But sometimes these things take more time than we would like. I know you are frustrated and the fact that you can't hear anything is only adding to your fears. Everything will work out. Give yourself a few more days to heal."**

With that the doctor left the room, with plenty of note paper and pens for Bridger and Kristin. So far, the two of them had remained silent through the doctor's discussions with Lucas. Partially because they didn't quite know how to approach the situation except offer as much love and support as possible.

This was all new to Bridger too. Kristin had certainly seen the effects of amnesia and hearing loss during her medical career, but had rarely been challenged by the fact that it was a loved one close to her.

A meal soon arrived for Lucas as well as Kristin and Bridger. They knew the boy would feel awkward eating in front of them if they were not. They had yet to eat as well and did so to ease the tension between them and Lucas. It couldn't be easy for him, being told that these people loved and cared about him, but not even knowing their names.

Lucas picked at his meal slowly, swirling it around the plate and occasionally putting a forkful into his mouth when he glanced at the red-headed woman. For some reason he didn't think she would tolerate him telling her that he wasn't hungry.

Kristin could see the torment eating the boy from the inside and decided to try and help out a little straight away.

**"Your name is Lucas Wolenczak"**

Lucas looked at the note with a blank face. By rights he should have clearly recognized his own name. But it was as if someone had just told him the moon was made of cheese. It didn't look familiar at all. He even went so far as to try and sound out the odd surname. "W-w-wolen." He gave up, not getting it right anyhow.

Kristin wasn't about to give in so easily though. "**Wolenczak** she pronounced for her. It certainly felt strange telling the kid how to pronounce his own surname, when she had to be told how to do so when they first met aboard the SeaQuest all those years ago.

Rather than keep going over the same old ground, knowing that it was difficult enough, Kristin decided to push on with the next subject. She hoped at least to get to telling the boy her name and Bridger's before the end of today. It would certainly be a good starting point if he knew their names.

**"My name is Kristin Westphalen. I am a doctor. Not at this hospital. But aboard the submarine where you live. I also live with this man, Nathan Bridger,"** she wrote, pointing to Bridger as she handed the note over.

"Hello, Kristin," Lucas greeted her, with a smile, but lacking the usual cheekiness it would have usually provoked in the teenager.

**"Hello, yourself,"** Kristin responded, trying to keep the atmosphere as light-hearted and relaxed as possible. Bridger decided he could write the next message on his own, wanting to take some part in this whole process. He felt he was watching like an audience.

**"My name is Captain Nathan Bridger. You are my son and I love you," **wanting to put everything into the note at once, but knowing that wouldn't help the situation.

"Should I call you Captain?" Lucas asked politely. What hurt Bridger the most was the lack of closeness that he was used to sharing with Lucas. There was a clearly visible distance between them apart from the hospital bed and the teenager made no move to reach out with a hand in getting to him or showing any sign of affection.

**"If you like.**** You usually call me 'Captain", but ****'Dad' will do also." **

No matter what his amnesia affliction, his thought process clearly was not impaired in the slightest. He had picked up that their surnames were different and wanted to know why.

"Why do I call you Dad, our surnames are not the same. Are you my step-father or something?" Lucas asked, remembering that Kristin's surname was different again. He still didn't know how he fitted in with all of these people and who was family and who was not.

Bridger looked at Kristin, searching for an answer. Out of all the questions Lucas could have picked to ask right at that very moment, that was the one furthest from both of their minds. And certainly one they would have tried hard to avoid, as well as the subject of parentage altogether if possible.

**"That's something perhaps we should hold off talking about until you are more rested,"** Kristin suggested, trying her best to smooth things over without giving the teenager the brush-off response

**"That is a very complicated matter and one we would only be too pleased to tell you about after you are recovered more. Perhaps after we leave the hospital and ready to go home."**

Lucas did feel like he was not getting the right answer, but his body had begun to feel very heavy again and he no longer had the attention span or the concentration to listen to too much more discussion anyway.

"Alright," he said in a quiet voice, pushing the portal hospital tray away from him and reclining back against the pillows and closing his eyes.

What surprised Lucas next was the feel of Kristin kissing him gently on the forehead. She didn't write any more notes, sensing that the teenager had had enough of that form of communication already. But her tenderness and kind touch spoke volumes and told Lucas that he was at least loved in some way by these people.

"Sleep," she whispered, the teenager not hearing the word, but succumbing to her request nonetheless and drifting off into a peaceful doze.

* * *

Lucas woke again later that afternoon. Kristin had spoken at length with the doctor about the progress they had managed to make with introductions and names. Ben was allowed visiting access again and was introduced to Lucas in the same manner as Kristin and Bridger.

Lucas felt comfortable within the man's jovial presence and somehow sensed that he and Ben had been friends in the past, even if it felt like he was just learning the man's name for the first time today. Ben had brought him some much more appetizing food from the cafeteria and despite the warning looks from Kristen, was rewarded for his efforts with Lucas eating more of those portions than what the hospital staff placed in front of him.

Kristin and Bridger left Lucas in Ben's care for quite a while that evening. Hoping that the connection would be remade with their friendship if given time and space to themselves. Unfortunately this was not to be. Ben had been warned about the effects of trying to shower Lucas with too much information at once, but found himself unable to stop himself.

Lucas tried to keep up with Ben's unending stream of notes about stories of crew members from the SeaQuest, whatever that was. He tried to sound as if he recognized the crew names that Ben mentioned, but none of them sounded familiar to him either.

It certainly sounded like a fun place to be and he hoped he could go there once they released him from the hospital. By now, the floor of Lucas's hospital room was littered with small bits of note paper, scribbled on. Ben knew he would have to clean them up before Kristen returned.

After a couple of hours, his headache had begun to grow in momentum again and he was forced to ask Ben to ask one of the nurses for some pain relief. Much to his displeasure, the nurse on duty happened to be Miss Tollinger. He asked for the medication for Lucas and bore her stern looks and distrust of him for his friend.

Lucas gratefully took the medication and laid back down to try and sleep and relieve the pounding in his head. The buzzing inside his ears was still present but being drowned out by the constant pain from the headache. He almost felt like he had something important to say to the man calling himself Ben. But it was only a half-thought and fell away as sleep overtook him.

* * *

The following day had started off as relaxed and a day to try and help Lucas recover some of his memory. It was clear by 10am though, that not all was going to plan and it would take a great deal longer than everyone had originally anticipated.

When Bridger and Kristin had left the hospital room the previous night, relieving Ben and allowing him to get a meal and some rest of his own. The general assumption was that Lucas was looking forward to the rehabilitation exercises that had been specially designed for his stimulation and aid in recalling the past.

Bridger and Kristin had visited Lucas in his room first thing and the teenager seemed alright. Perhaps a little withdrawn from yesterday, but they saw this as just a reaction to him awakening once more to unfamiliar surroundings.

Lucas, however, had plenty of time overnight to think over what the doctor had told him. He had slept initially, but only for a couple of hours, then from about midnight onwards, sleep seemed to avoid him altogether. No matter how much he tried to clear his thoughts, he just couldn't rest or relax at all.

The more he laid awake, the more the thoughts about his hearing and what stigma and consequences such an impairment would have on his day to day routine started to play out in his head. Then there was the whole thing about not knowing who he was, or any of the people around him. It was all to much to take in all at once.

Here he had been, lying in a bed in a place he didn't know how he got there. Apparently he had been in a car accident of some sort, but he had no memory of being able to drive or what the purpose of his journey had been. He couldn't remember where he had left from or where his final destination was supposed to have been.

By the time Bridger and Kristin came in this morning, his fatigue was evident and the strain of his anxiousness about the future was beginning to take its toll on his mood. He really didn't want these people to be here at all today, no matter who they said they were.

He hadn't wanted to start off in a negative frame of mind about the whole rehabilitation idea. But as soon as the excited and loud, even brash man called Krieg entered the room, Lucas promised himself to be as unco-operative as possible.

As much as they didn't want to, the doctor had suggested that the exercise would perform better for Lucas's memory if Bridger and Kristen were not observing within the room itself. They would of course be given a full evaluation at the end of the task, but for know, it would appear less threatening to Lucas and prove more beneficial for there to be only one person to focushis concentration on at a time.

Bridger and Kristin didn't go too far away from the room, intending to be nearby if Ben decided he needed help of if he simply needed someone else to step in. They couldn't avoid the fact that they were hovering to the nursing staff, but the nurses didn't voice any objections to their continual presence.

It wasn't long before raised voices could be heard from coming within Lucas's room. Bridger and Kristin listened more intently at first, making sure that it really was Ben and Lucas who were arguing. It didn't seem long enough for them to come to this point, but they decided it best to investigate before things got out of control.

Ever so carefully, they crept as quietly as they could, hoping to hear the reason for the argument without feeling they were intruding too much.

"Cow," came an answer from Lucas to a picture card that Ben was holding up.

From the tone of voice was one of vague disinterest in the whole thing and it was soon established that Lucas was not happy.

"Lucas, I don't like this…..," he began to say before pulling himself up and beginning to write on a note book. "Sorry, I forgot," he said out loud, handing Lucas the piece of paper.

**"Lucas, I don't like this anymore than you. I know you think these are stupid. But the doctor says it's the best way to try and get your memory back."**

"Than you guess at them," Lucas said angrily, turning his face away from Ben towards the window. He folded his arms across his chest in a manner that suggested he wasn't going to do anything more asked of him.

"Everything not going good I take it," Bridger whispered as he walked up to Krieg, keeping his gaze on Lucas's demeanour and body language as he spoke.

"You can say that again, Captain," Krieg said, getting off the chair he had been occupying and running a frustrated hand through his black hair.

"I just don't know who to deal with this I suppose. Anymore than Lucas does."

"Has he been this difficult the whole time?" Kristin asked, seeing the tiredness in the teenager's features.

"Not at first. He started reading the cards just fine, like the doctor wanted him to. But after the first few minutes he made it clear that he hates the amount of time it is taking to remember things. None of the cards made any difference. He could tell inanimate objects and such. It's things like people and events that he is struggling with himself over," Ben explained.

"He looks kinda tired," Bridger pointed out, noticing the redness to his eyes.

Lucas chose now to look back at the trio and turned his face into a scowl upon seeing that they were openly discussing him and he was unable to be a willing participant in the conversation or hear anything they were saying about him.

He definitely didn't want any more notes handed to him.

Bridger decided to give it a try for himself and see if he could get through to the reluctant young man. **"Do you know what your name is?"** he asked, starting off with something simple from the day before.

"Lucas!" the teenager said curtly, still avoiding direct eye contact as much as possible.

**"That's great. You remembered that part"** Bridger wrote, trying to praise the boy for his efforts, no matter how trivial the achievement seemed to be.

"No I didn't!" Lucas shot back quickly, still having the scowl on his face.

"Didn't?" Bridger asked, the whole question missing him entirely. He didn't see the point to Lucas's continued frustration when he seemed to be making a small amount of progress.

"I didn't remember ANYTHING. You told me my name was 'Lucas'," he shouted. "I told you my name, because you told me what it was." he repeated, realising how much of a struggle the whole amnesia thing was becoming.

"Maybe we should leave him for a while and come back once he has had some sleep," Kristin suggested. They weren't going to get anywhere with backing Lucas into a corner, making him feel as though he needed to show improvement for their sake.

**"We are going to let you rest a while and come back later"**

"Whatever!" Lucas said in response to Bridger's message as he read the contents.

He was angry with them and angry at himself for being angry with them. He could see they were trying to help him, but knowing that didn't let him remember things for himself any easier.

**"Is there anything you need before we leave?" **

"Nope!" came the short answer.

* * *

Bridger, Kristin and Ben left the room, a little disappointed in the attitude of Lucas, but fully understanding where the frustration was coming from and the reasons behind his negativity. They informed the nursing staff of Lucas's tiredness and their intentions to leave him to his own devices for a time.

Ben had promised to stay on the ward floor, despite the risks of running into Nurse _"Troll" _Tollinger, if only for Lucas's sake. They didn't want to be too far away from the teenager in case they were needed, but also saw the need for him to have some quiet time to himself and respected such a need.

With Lucas left to his own devices, he gathered up enough will to try and make a second trip to the bathroom on his own. The dizziness he had experienced the first time was no longer present. Just the God awful headache that seemed to be growing in intensity with each passing second.

Lucas walked to the bathroom without any difficulties or ensuing weakness. He was pleased with his efforts, and was beginning to feel a little more relaxed. That was until he walked past the windows in his room.

The light coming through the blind was quite harsh and only aggravating his severe headache even more. He went to use the cord to close them fully and darken the room. But when he touched the blind, he felt another sensation altogether……….

**_flashback :_**

**_"What have I told you about touching the curtains in this room?" a voice shouted__ from the past. These curtains remain closed. Understand?"_**

Lucas almost able to feel a physical presence from the voice that spoke. He didn't recognize it. But he heard the anger in it and felt the contempt and dominating overtones that it held.

**_"This is my house and you live here because I allow you to do so and for no other good reason than that. I call the shots around here and what I say is gospel as far as you are concerned."_**

Once again, Lucas felt as if the owner of the voice was looming over him in a threatening manner. He couldn't shake the idea that he knew this voice and should be afraid of it. But he was no closer to an name or the identity of the shadow within his mind.

**_end_**_** of flashback** _

Ben waited until he thought the coast all clear and Lucas calmed down sufficiently to re-enter the room without fear of reprisal. When he walked in, he was surprised, and a little alarmed to see the bed empty.

When he walked in further, he could see Lucas near the window, with his eyes closed and a fearful look on his face. The teenager grimaced as though he was trying to avoid something and turned his face away as if he was recalling something from his past.

Ben was concerned that Lucas was in pain, and was about to go and get a nurse or Bridger. Before he did so, he wanted to lead the teenager back to the bed. He didn't want the same mistake to happen as before and walk back into the room to find Lucas collapsed on the floor.

Ben realised that talking would do no good with his hearing loss, so decided to use touch as his way of communicating his concern. He placed a gentle hand on the boy's shoulder, "Lucas?"

At first the only reaction from Lucas was being startled like someone who was sleepwalking and had just been awoken suddenly. He opened his eyes but did not turn his head to meet Ben's gaze straight away. He was still trying to fathom what he had just witnessed happen inside his mind. He wasn't sure he could describe it if ask by anyone.

Ben could clearly see that something was wrong with Lucas. But what?

He called out to the nursing staff rather than take the chance of leaving the room.

Luckily for him, Bridger and Kristin were just returning to the nurses station themselves, ready to check on Lucas's progress and see if Ben needed a break.

They both hurried into the room at Ben's call for assistance. They entered to find Ben leading a somewhat disoriented and distant Lucas back to his bed.

At first, they thought he must have been in danger of fainting or collapsing again, but noted that the boy was conscious. He didn't acknowledge their present, still holding onto the confused and fearful expression on his face.

"What happened, Ben?" Bridger asked, reaching out and taking Lucas's hand in his own, hoping the boy would at least look at him.

"I don't know," Ben admitted. I walked in. I thought he was going to faint or something and was going to get a nurse. I touched him on the shoulder to see if he was alright. He just looked at me strangely and that's when you walked in. He hasn't spoken a word. Just looked scared to death from something."

"Where was he standing?" Kristin asked, noting the almost timid appearance that was now being displayed. Something dramatic had occurred here to make the turn around in mood so obvious.

"By the windows. He had one hand on the blind as if he was trying to close it," Ben answered.

**"Lucas, are you alright?"** Kristin wrote on a note, handing it to the teenager.

Lucas nodded his head, but didn't speak. He wanted to tell someone about what he had felt and seen when touching the blind, but the whole idea sounded ridiculous. Even to him.

"I saw something," he blurted out, not knowing how it was going to sound.

**"What did you see?"**

Lucas frowned as he tried to concentrate, but the headache was now shutting out all of his thought processes. He put his hands to his head, trying to massage the pain away.

"Heard a voice inside my head," he described. Which was more accurate.

The voice was the most vivid thing he could point out about the whole episode.

"Did you recognize the voice?"

"No," Lucas replied. "But I think my mind was trying to tell me that I should know who it was."

**"What did the voice say to you?"** Kristin wrote, hoping it might be a clue to help aid in regaining his memory.

"I don't remember," Lucas said immediately, clamming up. For some reason, he didn't want to share the angry words or the intimidation that he had felt from the voice. It sounded silly to say that you were afraid of a phantom voice. But at the moment, that is exactly how he felt.

**"Well, don't try and rush yourself too much. You will remember in**** time. If you try too hard, the answers won't come."**

Everyone, including Kristin could sense that there was more to what he was telling them. But they decided not to pursue it overly at this point in time.

"Can I have something to eat and a drink please?" Lucas asked politely.

**"Absolutely.**** I will go and get it."**

"Ben, you go with Nathan and see if the doctor is about so we can discuss what you just saw as we walked in," Kristin suggested. This left Lucas on his own for a few minutes but they didn't see this as a problem to be worried about.

All three left the room, Kristen first, followed shortly afterwards by Ben and the Captain.

* * *

It was at that point that Lucas decided he had had enough of the hospital and everyone else around him. They only way he was going to learn who he was or anything about his past was to find out for himself. He certainly wasn'tgoing to learn it from these people, they had already danced around that subject once or twice.

Lucas got off the bed and headed to the small closet in the room. He found a clean shirt and jeans that seemed to belong to him. He didn't remember wearing them in the past, but assumed they were there because they belonged to him.

He didn't feel the need to take a lot of things with him when leaving the hospital. Travel light and he would get further, he told himself. The headache was now monstrous and causing him to stumble slightly in his step. It had been this bad when he was touching the blind.

Lucas grabbed out for the door handle, hoping to help keep him upright at the same time. He paused until he could stand without the pain making him more confused and shaky in his step.

Luck was on his side, the nurses station was unattended at present. There were a few orderlies and other staff moving down the corridor a little further away. But nobody right at the nurses station to notice him leaving his room.

There was never a better opportunity to slip out unnoticed than right now.

The good turn of fortune however was short lived as Lucas made the five steps past his doorway towards the elevator across the hall. The lift doors opened, revealing Bridger and Ben coming back with the doctor to check on Lucas.

It had taken a considerable amount of concentration and energy on Lucas's part to make those initial five steps past the door. He was quickly waning in strength and the edges of his peripheral vision began to look grey and clouded.

"LUCAS!" Bridger said and then cursed himself for yelling. The kid couldn't hear him anyway. The doctor was surprised and concerned as the Captain.

Lucas definitely shouldn't be wandering the hall on his own. For fear of his weakened state after the accident in addition to his amnesia.

Ben decided to make a more upfront approach and took a hold of Lucas's arm, ready to bear him back to his room and demand that he not do anything silly again. But even with his light hold, Ben could feel the trembling in the teenager's arms, signalling his weakness and unsteady gait.

"No, I gotta go and find who I am," Lucas said angrily out loud, barely recognizing anybody holding onto his arm or standing beside him. The increase in his voice's volume, caused the headache to spike again.

Lucas's tenuous hold on consciousness dissolved away completely and without warning, the trembling and unsteady teenager fell to the floor in a dead faint. The doctor was immediately at his side, barking orders. Bridger was hovering beside him, using his hands to try and rouse the boy on his face and neck.

"I need some help over here now!" the doctor shouted a second time.

TO BE CONTINUED……………………….

**Yes, I know, leaving it again. Took a while to write this chapter. The amnesia stuff is completely made up in my head and is probably not even real close to what actually happens to a patient.**

**Hope you can read the notes okay with the different font style.**

**It has been a while with this story – but it is quite complicated and I don't want to lose the readers with having too many flashbacks or making them sound to specific.**

**Lucas is a little temperamental in this one too – one minute he is angry and yelling, the next afraid and withdrawn. That's teenagers for you – especially one after an accident. LOL**

**Let me know what you think and if you are still reading this story.**

**JULES**


	4. Diagnosis and Treatment

THE FORGOTTEN YEARS

By Jules

**Author Notes: This chapter will deal with a lot of medical jargon. I did do a fair bit of looking up for it.**

**When I first began writing the story, I hadn't chosen any specific ailment for Lucas except the hearing impairmentand his memory loss. I have named the condition correctly now, because I want there to be a medical diagnosis for some of the symptoms that he will have, which also add to those of the memory loss. This set up is important for later chapters for scenes between Lucas and Lawrence, when neither of them is aware of what is happening.**

**I have changed the plot slightly in that I am not intending for Lucas to move back in permanently with Lawrence for any length of time. There will definitely be thoughts from Lucas to do that, but after much more careful thought to the twists of the story – I want the visit between them to be shorter so that the scenes play out a lot more dramatically.**

**Please be aware that is quite a long chapter. It has been quite since I updated, so I hope that it was worth reading.**

**CHAPTER FOUR**

**DIAGNOSIS and TREATMENT**

With Lucas laying unconscious on the hospital floor, and the doctor yelling for assistance, there was a sudden flurry ofactivity, with two orderlies now coming over to help.

Bridger was forced to relinquish his spot beside the fallen teenager and allow the medical people space to help the boy. He and Ben could only stand by helplessly as they watched the doctor make a few short comments to Kristin.

"Let's take him back to the room first and try and get him a bit more settled," the doctor suggested.

Upon the doctor's careful and strict instructions to go slow, the two orderlies went about picking up Lucas and takinghim back to his room. At first, the teenager didn't stir at all at being lifted up, but after a few moments he could be heard making a few low moans as he was being carried.

The doctor followed Kristin and the two orderlies into the room, and at hearing Lucas, Bridger and Ben were aboutto enter the room as well until the doctor stopped at the doorway and put up his hand, not allowing them entry.

"I am sorry, but as you can see there are already too many people in this room at the moment. I know you are worriedabout our young patient here, but I would appreciate it if you could wait outside just a little while until we can dowhat we need to for him," the doctor explained with compassion in his voice.

The doctor understood the need for these people to be close to the boy, and for all intense purposes, they would be needed as the young man began to recover, but this latest dizzy spell had him concerned. More than before, and he wanted to concentrate on finding the cause.

Ben wanted to openly object, as did Bridger, but he could see that the doctor was putting his patient's needs first, and that is what they all wanted most. The Captain put a restraining hand on Krieg and motioned for them both to do as the doctor was asking.

The Lieutenant reluctantly stepped back from the doorway, doing as he was asked. From where he was standing, he could see the two orderlies laying his young friend on the bed. Lucas appeared to be waking a little more.

"I promise I will let you know what is going on as soon as I can. I won't keep you from him long," the doctor informed them and then closed the door.

"At least Kristin is inside," Bridger commented knowing that out of the three of them, she was the best person to be with Lucas right now.

Ben sat down on one of the rows of seats against the wall wondering what they could all be doing in there now. Bridger was pacing back and forth, wringing his hands together with nervousness; he couldn't stand the thought of keeping still when he didn't know how Lucas was doing.

"What are we going to do, Captain?" Ben asked candidly. "I mean he just tried to waltz out of here on his own and head of to who knows where."

"I don't know, Krieg," Bridger responded, hearing his own fears for the teenager's well-being reflected in Ben's concerned voice. "He cannot be wandering around on his own like that again, that's for sure."

The two of them now found the conversation between then drying up as they waited in silence for news from Kristin and the doctor on how Lucas was doing.

* * *

Back in Lucas's room, the dramas of the teenager's confusing symptoms was continuing. The orderlies had placed the youth on the bed, and now stood back to allow the two doctor's plenty of access. They remained in the room, knowing that theywould still be required.

Lucas was somewhere on the edges of waking and slipping back asleep. He could feel hands touching his face, neckand upper arms. He tried to bat them away.

"Leave me alone….." came the cross but whispered plea, swatting again at the hands that he could sense on him.

The troubled young man couldn't hear the voices that were talking all around him, to each other about what they could see and their concerns over the injuries that he had already sustained, but also about a fresh onslaught of symptoms that were emerging.

The headache that had caused Lucas to become so disorientated in the hallway had lessened with his unconsciousness,but it was still present. He was trying to raise his hands to the area that hurt the most, but somebody was holding his arm stopping him from doing so.

"He is having another headache………" the doctor mentioned to Kristin as they watched the boy's grimacing features and attempts to rub his fingers on his temples.

"The bruising on the side of his face is certainly beginning to stand out," Kristin commented as she gently took the teenager's hands and tried to get him to relax a little more.

"Lucas, you need to calm down a minute," the doctor said, but then kicked himself realising that the boy probably hadn't heard a word that he had said anyway.

"Let me out of here…………," Lucas said, attempting to sit up and push the hands away, but his attempt was only partly successful and he found himself falling back down and feeling hot and very dizzy.

He tried to open his eyes and look about the room to get a better bearing of his situation and the people he could feel around him, but he was forced to squint into the bright lights and put his hands across them to shield himself away from the harshness that increased his headache.

"Turn those lights down a fraction," the doctor instructed seeing the boy's reaction. One of the orderlies played with the light switch on the wall and dimmed the florescent tubes on the ceiling.

"He is beginning to feel awfully warm," Kristin said as she placed her open palm on his forehead.

She could see Lucas trying to open his eyes again, and the fatigue that was plaguing him. She could also see the agitation in him beginning to grow once more.

The doctor ran his own hand across the boy's forehead and then placed a thermometer in his mouth for a minute or two.

"Your correct, Kristin, he is starting to run a slight temperature. Not enough to be alarmed at for the moment, but it should be kept monitored over the next few hours."

"99 degrees," the doctor read as he removed the thermometer and read the numbers.

"Lucas, you need to relax a little more and let us help you," Kristin said, mouthing the words slowly hoping that the boy would be able to read her lips rather than have to revert back to hand-written notes. She could clearly see that he was in no state to be using those at the moment.

Lucas could feel her touch, his strength was waning badly and the agitation in him began to subside slightly as his tiredness and pain began to control his actions and emotions. He turned his head into her hand this time rather than away from it and tried to open his eyes again to look up at the red-headed doctor.

The teenager still couldn't say he knew who she was, but he could sense that she was worried about him and trying to help him. She smiled down at him and caressed his cheek softly, but he couldn't work out what she was saying. His eyes kept drooping and he didn't have the concentration needed to focus.

The two doctors and Lucas himself were both unprepared for what was about to happen next. For the past few minutes the pain in his head had been bearable but the dizziness and sense of vertigo increased dramatically. Nausea was growing alarmingly within his stomach and the pain in his right ear was becoming indescribable.

"Oh…. my ear…….," Lucas gasped out loud reaching up and putting his hand over his ear. His face was losing colour but the dizziness still grew.

"Lucas, let me take a look," the doctor said, trying to gently pry the hand away from his ear without causing any unnecessary discomfort. It was soon clear though that this was not about to happen. The boy groaned out loud and squeezed his eyes shut as he tried to wait until the wave of pain to abate.

Problem was though, it wasn't abating or decreasing, and the pain was evident on his handsome face.

All of a sudden Lucas's eyes flew open and he struggled to sit up in a hurry, feeling the nausea in his stomach reach its peak, "Help……. going to be sick……….," he managed to get out.

One of the orderlies saw the change on the young man's pale face to green and quickly passed a stainless steel bowl to the doctor. Not a few seconds later, Lucas couldn't stop himself from throwing up. He didn't have much in his stomach, and unfortunately found himself trying to hitch in breaths of fresh air between the bouts of retching.

Kristin tried rubbing his back in an attempt to let his muscles relax, seeing that the young man was totally exhausted, the bout of nausea only prolonging his wretchedness. Lucas fell back against her, barely able to open his eyes or make any sort of noise to account for how embarrassed he would have felt if he was more coherent.

The other doctor in the room was thinking hard, trying to work out why the teenager would be so violently sick with little warning. It wasn't uncommon for patients suffering a serious head injury to have bouts of vomiting and dizziness, but all of this combined with the slight fever and how badly the boy was feeling just didn't add up.

"Let's make him more comfortable for a moment," the doctor said, instructing the orderlies to remove the basin and then helping Kristin getting the young man cleaned up and settled back against the pillows.

Two more pillows were placed behind his back, sitting him up slightly, propping him up. It was plain for the two doctor's to see that the boy's body was very languid and the nausea had sapped what little strength he had.

The young man's eyes were closed, but they could see that he wasn't sleeping.

The doctor poured some water into a glass and put his hand on the teenager's shoulder, rousing him enough to offer him the drink. The youth didn't resist and drank as requested.

A few moments later though, another bowl had to be placed in front of Lucas again as he threw the water back up.

The doctor was concerned that without even being able to keep water down, Lucas would become too dehydrated, further hampering his recovery.

* * *

"Excuse me a moment, please," the doctor said and opened the door to the room and walking to the nurses station a short distance away.

Bridger and Ben saw the doctor exit the room, and waited as patiently as they could, hoping the man would give them some good news.

Even though the door had been closed they could hear the muffled sounds of Lucas being sick and their concern had been heightened even further about the prognosis.

The doctor spoke briefly to one of the nurses at the station who then proceeded to walk away to a room that was labelled _'Pharmacy'._

When the doctor turned to go back into the room he saw the anticipation on the two men, and gestured for them to come forward.

"You may as well come in. I am afraid I don't have too much news for you yet, only to say that we are facing a whole new problem. It would easier if I talk to all three of you at once rather than repeat what I have to say," the doctor told them.

Bridger and Ben entered the room, with Krieg standing towards the end of the bed, but Bridger joined Kristin on the opposite side.

The Captain looked towards Lucas laying on the bed and could see the fatigue in his features. His eyes were closed, but the teenager was frowning and turning his head from side to side on the pillow, as though trying to turn away from the pain.

The doctor could see the worry etched on the three faces keeping the bedside vigil and wanted to relay their fears as much as possible. "As you probably heard, he is now having to battle against some sudden bouts of nausea."

"But doesn't that happen sometimes with a head injury?" Ben asked.

"Yes it does, but we monitored Lucas very carefully in the first twenty-four hours when he was originally brought in here and he didn't show any signs of nausea or being sick. In some instances and with some people it can be a delayed reaction, but I don't think that is the case here."

"What do you think would have caused it so suddenly then?" Kristin prompted. "The last time was it was only water in his stomach, not anything heavy or acidic."

"I don't have the full answer yet, but I am going to give him something to help him sleep in a moment. That's why I thought you should come back into the room. I will give the sedative time to take effect and when I come back, I want to examine his ears again and do some other routine tests."

"It will be a lot easier on Lucas for me to examine his ears when he is asleep and unable to feel the majority of the pain. As you can see, the nausea is making him weaker, not helping him regain his strength."

"The sedative should allow him to get some sleep tonight. The results shouldn't take too long and then I will be more comfortable giving you a full diagnosis and rundown on the treatment that I will propose."

A light knock at the door revealed the nurse who had been at the station outside, she entered briefly and handed the doctor a prepared syringe as requested.

During the brief conversation, Bridger had kept his attention on the doctor's words, but his eyes trained on Lucas. The teenager didn't open his eyes, but he didn't appear to be resting comfortably at all. A couple of times his hand had strayed towards his ears and he offered a soft cry of pain until Kristin took his hand in her own once more.

The doctor swapped Lucas's upper arm with small cotton ball, and whilst Kristin held his hand, injected the contents of the syringe into his system. The teenager had tried to pull away at the last minute, but hadn't been allowed to.

"I don't think it will take long," the doctor said gently. "He is pretty worn out."

Ben nodded at the doctor's comments, noting that Lucas was fighting hard to stay awake.

"I will be back in a few moments," the doctor promised. "Kristin, can I please rely on your assistance when I return?"

"Of course," she answered, laying the young man's hand across his chest and covering his shoulders with the light blanket on the bed.

The doctor excused himself and left the room.

* * *

Kristin watched Nathan for a few moments, trying to work out what he was thinking. She could see the concern on his and Ben's face. It mimicked her own.

"I guess after we hear from the doctor we should talk to the rest of the senior crew," Ben offered, knowing that they would want to know how the teenager was going.

"I hope this doctor can find out the source of the problem for us," Bridger said quietly, reaching out and rubbing the back of Lucas's hand to reassure the boy that he wasn't left alone.

"It hurts…….," Lucas whispered, trying to open his eyes once more. The sedative was now weaving its way into his system and now Bridger could feel the teenager's hand relax as he fell under a heavy cloud and surrendered to the powerful pull of sleep.

"I know it does, honey," she said softly, running her fingertips across his forehead and brushing the blond hair back tenderly. Kristin kept looking at the door, waiting for the doctor to come back.

"He is still very warm," she commented, but didn't detect a large increase in temperature.

The doctor re-entered the room, with a covered metal try in his hands. It contained a number of instruments, and cloth swaps that he intended to use. He placed it down on a small table nearby.

"He fell asleep only a moment or two ago," Kristin informed him.

Before he began, he pulled out a small pencil thin torch from his white coat pocket and proceeded to lift the young man's eyelids and peer at them briefly with the light.

"His pupils are a little more dilated than I would like, and that is not all due to the sedative."

"Kristin, if you could place your hand here on his chin, and then the other on top of his head, we will turn his head slowly to the left so that I can take a better look at the right ear. I think that one is still causing the most problems."

Bridger moved a little closer to where Ben was, giving Kristin the room she needed to assist the other doctor.

The doctor carefully began his examination of Lucas's right ear. A couple of 'hmms' could be heard coming from the man as he worked.

Even with the heavy effects of the sedation, on at least one occasion, Lucas had whimpered at the pain that resulted from the doctor's probing.

"Shhh, its alright……..," Kristin soothed, knowing that it was unlikely that the boy would wake any further.

Bridger waited as patiently as he could, but the anxiety in him was gaining momentum. He kept hoping that the doctor would soon offer more than a noise to tell them all what he thought.

"What can you tell?" the Captain asked, unable to stop himself from asking the question.

"Well, you probably saw him at some stage over the past hour or so, feeling a great deal of discomfort through this ear. Even when we first brought him in here, he was trying to stop me from taking a looking at it."

"His right ear is now a lot redder than it was yesterday when I examined it," the doctor explained, lifting an otoscope from the tray and placing it as gently as he could against the teenager's ear.

"The ear itself feels hot to the touch, which would probably account for the slight increase in temperature that he has. The delicate membranes of his inner ear are badly inflamed. The inflammation was not like this when I took a look at him yesterday."

"Did it happen when his head hit the glass window?" Krieg asked.

"Possibly. I couldn't rule it out entirely at this stage," the doctor replied truthfully.

"You can remove your hands now, Kristin, thank you for your help."

"I am going to speak to a colleague of mine in the hospital here. I won't be long and then I will come back and talk to you about the treatment I propose."

"I know you are all very anxious, but let me assure you that I think I have determined the problem and can successfully treat Lucas."

"Well that is a relief," Bridger remarked, letting out the breath that he didn't release he had been holding.

"Please forgive me for leaving you again, I hope to return with some news that will help Lucas and you all.

While the doctor was out of the room, Ben moved from the end of Lucas's bed to a large uncomfortable chair meant for visitors. It was clear that they would all be there for a while. At least his friend appeared to be getting some rest, even if it was with artificial means.

There were two other chairs against the wall behind Bridger and Kristin and they soon did the same as Krieg, wanting to be there in case the teenager showed any signs of distress before the doctor returned.

Thankfully, the doctor didn't take long at all. The trio could see another tray in his hands as he entered the room as quietly as possible, but his time it contained four coffee cups, milk and sugar and teaspoons.

"I thought you could all be using one of these right now, I know I could," the doctor said, trying to relieve their concern. "You are all beginning to look as tired as I feel," he poked in fun.

"Thank you," Kristin said graciously. "We are all just worried about him. That boy is very dear to us."

"This is going to take a little while to explain and then give you my treatment plan. I am glad you are sitting down."

The doctor took a quick look at his patient before continuing, making sure that the youth was as comfortable as possible.

"Fortunately he doesn't look to have moved very much since I left, which is a good thing."

"For the moment, I don't think we need to give him any medication for his temperature. If we treat the symptoms themselves, his fever should diminish as he begins to recover. We will just keep monitoring it tonight and tomorrow."

"Secondly, I think that despite how much pain Lucas is in at the moment, I would like to see him released from the hospital tomorrow, into your care Kristin if you feel you could oversee his recovery. I say this for a couple of reasons, some of which I will explain in a few minutes."

"Release him tomorrow?" Bridger asked dubiously, looking at the sleeping boy in the bed. Whilst he was glad to see the doctor so optimistic and was confident in Kristin's skills as a doctor, he couldn't help but wonder what the other reasons were.

"He will be well taken care of, doctor," Kristin responded. "I will have no trouble taking over any care or treatment that you feel is necessary.

"Thank you. That eases my mind a lot, especially given the diagnosis that I am about to give you. You see the problem that Lucas faces at the moment is twofold. Firstly, the problem with the head injury itself and the headaches and perpetual dizziness that seem to be plaguing him from time to time."

"Secondly, the memory loss, which is understandably, causing him to feel isolated and alone. He is getting too worked up and upset which only exacerbates the pain and discomfort.

"But now there are some new symptoms emerging as I stated earlier, the nausea, and from what I have been able to observesince bringing him back into the room since passing out today, an overwhelming sense of vertigo. That is why we had trouble settling him before he was sick."

"For now, if we can get the nausea under control, I will consider offering him some food. His body needs the fuel to help itself heal, but if we cannot achieve that for the next twenty-four hours or so, just to keep the fluids up to him. Water, juice, anything liquid that he is willing to drink."

"Tomorrow I will prescribe some harmless ginger tablets, which may help. They are natural of course and should help his stomach settle. Despite having a slight temperature, it is very important to keep him as still as possible and warm."

So far, Bridger and Ben could easily keep up with the doctor's explanation and treatments. As the conversation progressed further though, both of them soon fell out of their depth as far as medical jargon went and were grateful that Kristin was

present and understood everything the doctor was saying.

"I believe that Lucas is suffering from **Labyrinthitis**," the doctor informed them. He could see the puzzled looks on the faces of Bridger and Krieg and explained further in layman's terms as best he could.

"It is an inflammatory problem which affects the _**labyrinths **_that house the _**vestibular system **_of the inner ear."

"Vesti what," Ben tried to pronounce, not able to keep up with the medical terminology.

Kristin answered for the doctor, "The vestibular system is a set of sensory inputs consisting of three semicircular canals, sensing changes in rotational motion, and the changes in linear motion. Changes in the position of your head."

"That's correct," the doctor said, clearly impressed at Kristin's knowledge. "The brain combines visual cues with sensory input from the vestibular system to determine adjustments required to retain balance. When working properly, the vestibular system also relays information on head movement to the eye muscle, forming the vestibulo-ocular reflex, in order to retain continuous visual focus during motion."

"Now you know why I joined the Naval academy with Bobby rather than take up a position as an intern," Ben said to Bridger. The Lieutenant had no trouble admitting that both doctor's had lost him after the words _sensory input_.

"I thought that **Labyrinthitis **was usually caused by a virus or bacterial infection?" Kristin stated, after already giving her knowledge of the condition.

"In most cases, yes, and it can be also attributed as a reaction to an allergy to some particular medicines," the doctor answered.

"In addition to balance control problems, a patient such as Lucas may encounter hearing loss, which we have already seen over the past couple of days. In rarer cases it can occur after a head injury, which we know he had already has."

"We are fortunate in one way because both bacterial and viral labyrinthitis can cause permanent hearing loss in some patients, although that is not very common. I am confident that in Lucas's situation, that his hearing loss is only temporary. If it wasn't I think we would have noticed some of these more dramatic symptoms emerging when he was first brought into the hospital, not now almost forty-eight hours later."

"I am confident to say that Lucas already had displayed the typical signs of **Tinnitus**," the doctor continued.

"Tinnitus?" Bridger repeated, "I thought you said a moment ago it was 'labyrinthitis'"

The doctor was patient enough to explain everything in full to the boy's family. Whilst it wasn't pleasant to hear all the details, these people were hanging on his every word and were soaking up everything he said.

"**Tinnitus** is the perception of sound in the human ear in the absence of corresponding external sounds. It is not a disease as such, but rather the ability to perceive sounds generated by the auditory or hearing system, evidence of compensatory mechanisms that are part of its normal function. The problem is the distress created, not the type of sound.

"You heard Lucas admit yesterday to having a buzzing sensation in his left ear" the doctor reminded them. The three people in the room nodded their head, recalling the teenager's answers to the doctor's written questions about what he could hear.

"Tinnitus can be perceived in one or both ears or in the head. It is usually described as a ringing noise, but in some patients it takes the form of a high pitched whining, buzzing, hissing, humming, or whistling sound, or as ticking, clicking, roaring, "crickets" or "tree frogs" or "locusts", tunes, songs, or beeping. It has also been described as a "whooshing" sound, as of wind or waves."

As if in direct response to the doctor's comments about his hearing problems, Lucas was becoming a little restless, the extra pillows behind him not allowing him to shift his sleeping position on the bed.

Kristin rose from her chair and carefully removed two of the pillows that were propping his body up, allowing him to lay down on his back more. The teenager's right hand strayed to his ear and cupped it as he had done earlier, trying to cope with the pain that was still present.

The doctor monitored his level of wakefulness, but was happy to see that his patient had not opened his eyes. Lucas rolled partially onto his left side, facing Kristin and Bridger, still asleep.

"When I came into the room yesterday and thought Lucas was about to faint, he mentioned about hearing voices in his head," Ben said, hoping that any little clues he had would help the doctor. "He said he didn't know who they were from, but he looked scared to me."

"I think this whole ordeal has been more than a little scary for Lucas," the doctor said with empathy. "I will do everything I can to help him, as I know you all will."

"One of the most prominent and debilitating symptoms of labyrinthitis is chronic dizziness. When the vestibular system is affected by labyrinthitis, rapid, undesired eye motion or** nystagmus**, often results from the improper indications of rotational motion."

"I think it was this dizziness that caused him to collapse out in the hallway this morning, coupled with the bad headache he was experiencing, there would have been a dramatic increase in blood pressure, causing him to feel light-headed and faint like he did."

"As you saw, Lucas was disoriented and appeared confused or unaware of his surroundings. It may also be the cause of his collapse yesterday when you were out here arguing with Nurse Tollinger, although that could have easily been due to getting out of bed far too early after his head injury," the doctor surmised.

"Fortunately in Lucas's case, I can find no problems or damage to his eyes. I do believe he might be experiencing some photosensitivity."

"Photosensitivity?" Kristin said in surprise. "How can you tell?"

"Because he was squinting a lot a little while ago, and even though he was tired and his eyelids where drooping, when he did open them, he squeezed them shut almost instantly again as a direct result to the lights above us now in the room.

That is why I asked the orderly to dim the lights."

"It is nothing to be overly alarmed at, but we should be mindful of keeping him out of direct sunlight and bright lights for a few days until he is feeling a little better. Any room he is in should have the curtains pulled or remain a little darker if possible."

"Maybe that was what he was doing when I saw him standing near the blind," Krieg now mentioned. "He was holding onto the blind. Maybe it was too bright inside."

"Why would he be touching the blind that shuts the light from outside though, Ben?" Bridger asked trying to figure it out logically.

Ben thought that they were closer to understanding what had happened when Lucas almost fainted yesterday, unaware that the real cause had been triggered by a flash back in Lucas's subconscious as a result of hearing Lawrence's angry voice from the past.

"So now that you suspect this happening to Lucas, what can we do to make him well again and help him remember who he is?" Bridger queried.

"I was getting to that, Captain," the doctor remarked. He had been observing the grey-haired man whilst they had been talking and saw him glance at the teenager on the bed almost every few minutes. It was clear to him, a complete stranger that there was a strong bond between them.

"Nausea, anxiety, and a general ill feeling are common due to the distorted balance signals that the brain receives from the inner ear. These are also common symptoms associated with a head injury without hearing loss. Which is why I said that we are having two sets of problems with Lucas."

"Recovery time from acute labyrinthine inflammation generally takes from one to six weeks; however, it is not uncommon for residual symptoms, such as dizziness to last for many months."

Bridger looked towards Kristin at hearing such a lengthy period of time. One to six weeks didn't sound too bad. It was longer than he would like to see Lucas in any pain.

"The recovery from a permanently damaged inner ear may typically follow in three phases: An acute period, which may include severe vertigo and vomiting, and one that I believe we are just seeing happen within the last couple of hours."

"With some of the other lesser symptoms, such as the dizziness, photosensitivity, I would estimate two weeks, but then a fairly rapid recovery period after that, if we can manage his bad headaches and help him over these hurdles. Its an educated guess though and that time frame varies from patient to patient, dependent on age, environment and quite a few other factors."

"Apart from the physical pain, we also need to be mindful of the anxiety that is clearly evident as well in Lucas. Anxiety is a common side effect of labyrinthitis and coupled with the fact that he doesn't know who he is or those people around him, it can be a very scary time for our young friend at the moment."

"Other side effects of labyrinthitis include tremors, heart palpitations, panic attacks and depression. Often a panic attack is one of the first symptoms to occur as labyrinthitis begins, and I think we might have seen the beginning of that yesterday when Lucas became upset at not being able to hear and was agitated to the point of getting angry as you observed."

"Dizziness can occur from extreme anxiety, labyrinthitis itself can precipitate a panic disorder. I spoke to my colleague upstairs like I said before, and he informed me that three models have been proposed to explain the relationship between vestibular dysfunction and panic disorder.

"Firstly there is the **Psychosomatic model**: vestibular dysfunction which occurs as a result of anxiety. I don't think this the case with Lucas, and maintain that his hearing problems stem directly as a result of the head injury when his head struck the steering wheel and driver's side window of his car."

"Secondly, there is a **Somatopsychic model**: a panic disorder triggered by misinterpreted internal stimuli, for example, that are interpreted as signifying imminent physical danger. Heightened sensitivity to vestibular sensations leads to increased anxiety and, through conditioning, drives the development of panic disorder.

"Can any of you give any creditable reason that Lucas might have thought or felt he was in such imminent physical danger recently?"

All three in the room shook their head negatively at the doctor's question, thinking back to the hours leading up to the accident and remembering the good time that he appeared to be having at the restaurant with the rest of the crew.

"The third theory is just that, and doesn't really need much attention focused on it. N**etwork alarm theory**: panic which involves other connected neuronal systems. According to this theory, panic can be triggered by stimuli that set off a false alarm.

* * *

"I apologize if I have lost you all with my lengthy explanation," the doctor said mainly to Ben and Bridger.

"Oh don't worry about me doc, you lost me on about page 10," Ben said with a laugh, but it was the truth. He could understand when the doctor said that Lucas was probably reacting to his hearing loss and some of his hospital environment, but as long as Kristin understood what the man was talking about, he knew that Lucas would be in good hands.

"I am with Ben a little," Bridger admitted, "I don't pretend to understand all of the jargon, but I do appreciate that you have gone to such lengths to explain everything so fully.

"I am going to lose you both a little bit more I am afraid as I explain my intended treatment. I want to start as soon as we can, tonight in fact, with your approval. As you can see, Lucas is still in pain and even with the sedation he is still able to feel it.

"Don't worry, Nathan and Ben, I have understood everything so far that the doctor has explained," Kristin said with a smile.

"Alright Kristin, what I propose to do, is help alleviate some, if not all the symptoms at the same time, with a two-part action plan."

"Are you familiar with the drug **Prochlorperazine**?" the doctor asked her.

Kristin thought for a moment thinking that she had heard the term before, "No I am not."

"What about **chlorpromazine**

"Yes, I have experience with **chlorpromazine** before," Kristin answered.

"**Prochlorperazine,** is a drug that belongs to the phenothiazine class of antipsychotic agents that are used for the treatment of nausea and vertigo, which will be of great benefit to Lucas. However……….," and he paused before continuing making sure that he had Kristin's full attention at his next statement.

"It is also a typical antipsychotic drug and a highly potent neuroleptic, 10 to 20 times more potent than chlorpromazine."

"Ten to twenty times……..," Kristin gasped out loud.

The doctor nodded, pleased that she understood what he was proposing and the potential risks involved.

"I don't know whether I like the sound of this at all," Kristin said, voicing her medical opinion, but also glancing at Lucas's sleeping face and concerned for him as someone she cared deeply for. She would not allow his health to be put at great risk if she didn't fully believe that such a treatment would help him.

Ben and Bridger could see the small battle within her and became concerned that what the doctor was proposing might be too radical a treatment on Lucas.

"Please believe me, I can see that you are unsure, but please know that I wouldn't do anything that would jeopardize any of my patients, especially on someone as young as Lucas. I think it has a very good chance of helping, not being a hinderance to his recovery."

"Due to the short duration of treatment it is usually well tolerated. Its use is strictly restricted to a maximum of 2 days, because of the potentially severe side effects of prochlorperazine, which mandate supervision by a health care provider, such as a hospital like ourselves."

"I propose to only give Lucas one dosage of **Prochlorperazine, **tonight if possible, monitor him very carefully and then introduce him slowly to the **chlorpromazine**you are more familiar with."

Kristin thought carefully before making any comment. She had seen **chlorpromazine** used and knew of the risks associated with the drug.

"**Prochlorperazine**is commonly prescribed to help alleviate the symptoms of vertigo and nausea," the doctor explained. "It shares in general all side effects of **chlorpromazine**, but these are seen less frequently so and are less disturbing to the patient, particularly as most patients with the aforementioned conditions are hospitalized."

"There are lots of other drugs out there that could be used. Some evidence suggests that viral labyrinthitis should be treated in its early stages with corticosteroids such as **prednisone**, and possibly antiviral medication such as **Valtrex** and that this treatment should be undertaken as soon as possible to prevent permanent damage to the inner ear."

"But for now I am ruling out that because I don't believe that Lucas's symptoms are caused virally or bacterially."

"Why don't they recommend this drug be used any longer than 2 days?" Ben asked, trying to keep up with the descriptions and different drugs.

"Long-term use is not recommended because of the addictive nature of benzodiazepines, such as Valium, and I would not be prepared to use that sort of treatment on someone Lucas's age."

Kristin was pleased with the doctor and gave him a grateful smile that he did indeed seem to be putting Lucas's age and vulnerability before the use of anything harmful. It was a policy as a doctor that she had always prescribed too and it was refreshing to see it in someone else in her field of expertise.

"**Prochlorperazine **was previously used in the treatment of psychosis and the manic phase of bipolar disorder, but now it is most often used in the short-term treatment of nausea and vomiting and vertigo."

"It has also been used successfully as an antiemetic, particularly for nausea and vomiting caused by cancer treatment, radiation and in the pre- and postoperative setting."

"How is it administered?" Kristin asked.

"It is available in three forms, Kristin, as an oral liquid, tablets, and suppositories, as well as in an injectable form."

"I plan to give it to Lucas as an intramuscular injection. The antiemetic action should be evident within 5 to 10 minutes and with should last for 3 to 4 hours."

"The tablets are available, but with oral dosing the start of action is delayed but the duration somewhat longer, approximately 6 hours, and I was hoping to give Lucas some relief as soon as possible."

"You said there were three forms?" Bridger prompted, picking up that the doctor had only mentioned two types.

The doctor wasn't surprised by how perspective the Captain seemed to be, even though the medical jargon may be a little out of his league. "There is an inhaled form of prochlorperazine under development, currently in Phase II clinical trials."

"Now there is the risk of reaction to this medication. A very remote one, but I always like to keep families informed at all times," the doctor stated. In people who are inherently allergic to this medicine, it is known to produce seizures and seizure-like symptoms in individuals who might not have had prior seizures.

"Which is why is it mandated that it only be given by health care professionals. Long-term delays might lead to long-term effects. In extreme cases, it has been known to produce permanent damage to the lower jaw and the jaw joint due to extended seizure symptoms."

"The second phase of the treatment, Kristin, after Lucas is released into your care, as I said is the slow introduction to

**Chlorpromazine**," the doctor continued,

"Forgive my interruption, doctor, but from my experience, **Chlorpromazine**, intramuscular administration is generally not recommended due to the unpredictable absorption and hence widely varying effect. The injection has been reported to be uncomfortable or painful."

"You are truly very impressive, Doctor Westphalen. I would be willing to offer you a permanent job at this hospital at any time," the doctor said.

"Um, no thanks, she is already claimed," Bridger said on Kristin's behalf, seeing the small objection she was going to voice at him answering for her. "My crew would never forgive me if I let her go."

Kristin forgot her objection and gave Nathan an appreciative smile at his comments. She was very happy where she was too on SeaQuest and had no plans to move her employment to anywhere else, but was flattered by the offer.

The three of them focused once more on what the treatment was going to be for Lucas.

"Initally, I would recommend the first dose, be administered in the syrup form, Kristin, because it has a faster onset of action than tablets. After that, it could be given as a capsule with Lucas's evening meal as a single dose, which would cover the following twenty-four hours."

"Yes, I agree that would be the best way to approach giving it to him, although he may screw up his face at the syrup,"Kristin said. "It is not the sweetest tasting substance."

"Good luck, Kristin, you are going to need it, Lucas usually won't even take your liquid cough syrup without the threat of being physically held down," Ben reminded her.

"Well this time, I think we will just have to persuade him nicely," she said, looking once more back at the sleeping teenager. At the moment she had no urge to put him through any more discomfort or pain.

"In any case, use is determined by an attending physician, which would be you, Kristin. I would recommend using a 25 mg oral tablet once every twenty four hours."

"Initial doses should be low and be increased gradually. The reason I thought it better to give the tablet to Lucas with his evening meal is for maximum hypnotic activity and to minimize any daytime sedation effects."

"Even though we need to keep an eye on him until his hearing is restored and the dizziness subsides, there is no need to keep him sedated during the day on a constant basis, and I would usually not recommend it. I would assume he was a fairly active young man when he is not sick."

Bridger answered affirmatively, smiling at little as he recalled how active Lucas could be if he wanted to be.

"Kristin, you must not forget about how to discontinue the usage of **Chlorpromazine," **the doctor now said cautiously.

"Why can't Lucas just stop taking it if Kristin decides he doesn't need it any longer?" Bridger asked.

"The drug should never be discontinued suddenly, Captain," the man replied. "It could result in unpleasant withdrawal-symptoms, such as agitation, sleeplessness, states of anxiety. All of which we are currently trying to find a solution for in the first place.

"The dose should rather be slowly reduced at a rate of approximately 20–25 per week," the doctor recommended.

Bridger now understood a little more why the doctor had first estimated the recovery time to be from one to six weeks.

* * *

"I can supply you with the amount you will need, Kristin," the doctor informed her. "And anything else you think you may require. I am afraid the young man may have to miss some schooling until his hearing has come back and he is back on his feet again."

Now it was time for all three in the room except the doctor to laugh at his statement. The doctor looked back at them with a confused look on their faces.

"The SeaQuest is fully equipped to handle most medical emergencies and I can easily gain access to any supplies that I may not have," Kristin advised him.

"As for schooling, doctor, well I am afraid you may not be aware that Lucas doesn't attend school," Bridger said.

"Doesn't attend school?"

"The SeaQuest is a submarine, doctor."

"A submarine. What is someone so young doing on a submarine? Is he a trainee cadet or something?" the doctor asked, thinking that it seemed a little bit of an odd lifestyle for someone Lucas's age.

"I understood you were a Captain, I am sorry that I didn't know the full background. I didn't mean to offend."

"Don't worry, you didn't offend anybody," Bridger assured him. "No, Lucas is our Chief Computer Analyst."

"Good with computers, I assume?" the doctor responded.

"Your young patient there doctor, graduated Stanford University at the age of 14 years, he has been a member of my crew for three years, and he is now an integral part of our day to day operation. There are sometimes I think we couldn't do without him."

"Well, that's certainly an impressive resume for someone so young," the doctor commented, looking back at his patient sleeping on the bed.

"You have no idea, doctor," Ben said proudly about his friend.

"Okay, well the fact that he doesn't attend school shouldn't affect the next part of his treatment. If I were to release him later tomorrow afternoon after lunch, where would you be staying?"

"We have some of my senior crew members staying in a hotel not far from here, would that be suitable?" Bridger asked.

"Not really, Captain. The treatment that I have just outlined will aid with helping his physical symptoms, but they won't help him regain his memory. I am thinking that he needs to go to somewhere he is familiar with, and if possible, more than one place."

"Well, we are officially on shore leave at the moment and normally I would return to my island not far off the mainland, but if you think that wouldn't be suitable, then I could arrange for us to stay on the SeaQuest."

The doctor pondered for a moment before making any further comment. "Being back on your island shouldn't be a problem either Captain, especially with Kristin taking care of Lucas. I would always make myself available by vid-link in case you need to consult me at any time."

"Now that I think about it a little more, perhaps taking him back to this submarine to begin with would be the best place to start and then when he feels more comfortable when his surroundings and gains more confidence with the people around him, then the island would provide more stimuli that his memory would benefit from."

"How many of your crew did you have in mind to be back on this submarine, Captain?" the doctor enquired.

"Well I have to ask them first if they wish to be involved because we are officially on shore leave, but most of my senior staff have stayed nearby at the motel waiting to hear news of how Lucas is doing. That would only make half a dozen or so present if they all agree to help."

"That number shouldn't be a problem. With some amnesia patients, large numbers of people or being in a crowd situation could cause more of a set back to regaining his memory rather than helping. Like I mentioned yesterday, it would be good to have more than one familiar environment to re-introduce him to, but too much stimuli would make him feel pressured to remember which is not what we want to achieve."

"I think the senior staff would be a good choice," Kristin voiced, "As these are people Lucas is used to seeing and working with on a daily basis aboard SeaQuest."

"Routine and familiarity are good steps to helping him remember. Just by doing something simple and mundane is often very beneficial rather than something more memorable that they may have only done once or twice" the doctor explained.

"The more comfortable Lucas feels in his environment, the more relaxed he will be and the more that will allow him to rest and recover his strength, even if he doesn't recognize those faces about him at first. We may find that the dizziness and headaches will ease greatly or subside altogether."

"Now what I have to suggest to you now may concern you some, but you are going to have a bit of a double edged sword once he is released from here. I do believe that we see a good improvement in him come tomorrow, and I know that you have all been very worried about Lucas after what you have seen happening to him today."

"But because of his hearing loss and his insecurity about trying to remember who he is and who you are, you cannot fall into the trap of wanting to be with him every minute of day and night. That is only going to make him more anxious and make him keep watching over his shoulder, rather than relax."

"On of the main reasons I am allowing him to be released from the hospital tomorrow into your care Kristin, is to avoid him becoming upset or more agitated and causing him to try and leave like he attempted today. Like I said, a double edged sword, because I am sure its only natural for you all to want to watch out for him."

"Which brings me to the next part of Lucas's treatment. I want to give him that injection of **Prochlorperazine** this evening, but I want to do that without you all here."

The doctor could see the objection forming on the lips of the three people in the room almost before he finished the sentence. They had stayed beside the teenager up until this point since he had been first brought to the hospital, but he knew that asking them to leave him in the care of the hospital staff for the night was for the best.

"Kristin, I know how you all feel, but I am sure that you all could use some sleep yourselves tonight, especially since you are going to be overseeing his care after tomorrow. You can stay for a couple of more hours, but hopefully you will agree with me for his sake."

"Nathan, you will have to talk to Bill Noyce about staying on the SeaQuest and you can't do that from here in the hospital," Kristin said, trying to find an excuse for him to leave Lucas. She knew it wasn't a very good excuse, she wanted to stay herself, but understood the doctor's request and respected his judgment.

"Alright doctor, I don't like it, but I will do what you ask and return to the motel to the rest of my crew and organize the stay aboard SeaQuest. Promise me that you will contact me if there is any change at all, or Lucas wants any of us."

"You have my word, Captain," the doctor promised. "I rather hope though that he will just sleep tonight and wake up tomorrow feeling a whole lot better."

Bridger looked over at Lucas laying on the bed and saw that the youth was deeply asleep and had not moved further since rolling onto his side. He too hoped that the sedative was helping him to get the rest he needed.

The doctor left the room a short time later after another check of his patient's temperature and vital signs. His right ear still felt hot to the touch, and the boy had tried to wrap his hand over the painful area once more, but didn't wake.

One and a half hours later, Kristin, Bridger and Ben prepared to leave the hospital as they had agreed. They still didn't feel comfortable with it, but knew that the staff would look after him until they returned tomorrow morning.

Ben had scowled about the idea of Nurse Tollinger being on duty whilst they were not there, but didn't voice his petty objections to the doctor.

* * *

Upon returning to the hotel where the three of them had been met by the crew members present. They were surprised that the Captain and the doctor had left the teenager's bedside and agreed to leave him on his own in the hospital overnight.

Bridger promised that he would explain everything to them the following morning as he spoke with Admiral Noyce about Kristin's role in overtaking Lucas's recovery and treatment.

"For now, I just need to know how many of you are willing to come back to the SeaQuest and stay at least a few days to try and help Lucas remember who he is," Bridger asked them.

Usually the crew would have already left to go and see their own families or have their own agenda's for shore leave by now, but after witnessing Lucas's car accident, they had stuck by their youngest crew member and were determined to wait until they heard that he was alright.

Jonathan Ford stepped forward first, "Captain, I think I speak for all of us here when I say that you certainly have our full support and co-operation. Anything you, Kristin or Lucas need, just say the word." He could see, Tim and Miguel nodding their heads in agreement.

"Okay, that will leave six of us with Lucas aboard SeaQuest. The doctor said that it was good to have a few faces, but not too many. We have to keep everything as stress free as possible over the couple of days until Lucas feels more comfortable about where he is," Bridger explained.

"Forgive me for asking Kristin, but how are we going to get around the fact that Lucas can't hear us?" Tim O'Neill asked.

"Well, we have been using handwritten notes at the hospital so far, and that seemed to be working okay, but Lucas was getting pretty sick of them by today. So all I can say for now is that we have to take this a step at a time. Keep the notes to a minimum whilst we are on SeaQuest if you can," Kristin answered.

"Hopefully within a few days and this medication that he is going to be put on, his hearing may improve and we won't need to use them. The main thing is not to get Lucas worked up," Bridger added.

"I think it would be best if you were all already on SeaQuest, rather than everybody come to the hospital tomorrow," Kristin now stated. "Even you Ben. I want you to print out a small photograph of each of us on one or two sheets of paper, and put our names beside them. Lucas can carry those around with him, folded up in his pocket if necessary and look at them when he wants to."

"Sounds weird that Lucas doesn't even remember who we are?" Miguel stated.

"Or who he is," Ford included, agreeing with Ortiz. They had all seen the horrific accident, but it was all beginning to feel very strange that they would have to be helping their young friend to remember.

The crew, together with Kristin and the Captain, enjoyed an evening meal together, trying to talk about something else apart from what the next few days would bring for Lucas. However, they all found their thoughts wandering back to the teenager.

Kristin was wandering if the doctor had given Lucas the first injection by now and if it was working or not.

* * *

Back at the hospital, the doctor had just finished giving his young patient the **Prochlorperazine** injection.

Thankfully everything went smoothly and the young man had not stirred at the slight sting from the needle. The doctor had been expecting him to stir a little, but was pleased when he didn't.

Now all that was left for the remainder of the evening was to monitor him carefully and note his progress. He didn't expect and immediate reaction, and probably wouldn't see any improvement until morning. Hopefully by then the youth would at least be awake and a better assessment on his symptoms could be made.

"You have a lot of people counting on me getting you to feel better soon, Lucas," the doctor said to the boy, making sure that he was covered sufficiently and was kept warm. He put the palm on his forehead, still feeling the slight temperature, but it wasn't any higher than it had been a few hours ago.

"I want to be kept informed at all times," the doctor instructed a nurse at the station. "I need hourly vitals done, and any changes in temperature or respiration let me know immediately. Please come and get me immediately if he shows signs of waking or being sick again. I need the lights in the room to remain dimmed as much as possible."

The nurse listened carefully and assured the doctor that she and the nurses on duty would do everything they asked.

The next morning, Bridger had awoken feeling much more alert and refreshed than he had been the previous night. He hadn't realized how worn out he had felt until his head hit the pillow.

Kristin had risen a little later than he and the other crew members hadn't been too far behind. All of them shared a morning cup of coffee together and prepared to make any necessary arrangements for when Lucas returned to the SeaQuest later today.

"I wonder how he did last night?" Krieg asked. "I hope he hasn't been throwing up since we left."

"We didn't have any calls last night from the hospital, Ben, so I think no news is good news at the moment," Kristin tried to assure him.

"Captain, with us being there together on the SeaQuest, but really going anywhere, what do you propose we do to fill in time? Ford now asked. Kristin already said that hovering around Lucas every minute was a bad thing."

"Oh, I think there are some things that can always be done on SeaQuest, Commander, even when we are not headed off on some mission. There is always work to do in Doctor Westphalen's research labs, and there are some routine checks we should be doing after coming back from such a long tour."

"Don't worry, Sir, I think we can find plenty of things to do. It will stop us wanting to check up on Lucas all the time. He hates that at any time, and I can only imagine that it would be very off putting to him for us to do it all the time when he doesn't know who we are," Ortiz said.

"Thanks for your co-operation on this, both I and Lucas appreciate it," Bridger responded. "I am going to contact Noyce."

"Good Morning, Nathan," Bill greeted him as the vid-link connected them.

"Morning, Bill," Bridger responded in return.

Noyce had been informed of Lucas's accident by Jonathan Ford after they had been sent from the hospital. It had been the Commander and Miguel who helped the rescue crews salvage what was left of the UEO transport that the teenager had been driving.

The Admiral had been in liaison with local police and advising then that the UEO would help in anyway they could with any investigation that needed to be carried out into the cause of the accident. The police in return had advised that they were still making enquiries as to the identity of the drunk driver of the other vehicle and had yet to lay the appropriate charges.

They had not made any determination yet as to whether Lucas would be required to give any formal statement, but Noyce had informed them that the teenager wouldn't be doing anything until Kristin had given him a clean bill of health.

None of them all hadn't given thought to the idea that because Lucas had for the moment lost his memory, had no recollection of even being in the accident, or anything preceding it happening.

"How is Lucas doing?" Noyce asked first, knowing it would be foremost in his friend's mind.

"As well as can be expected for the moment. Well he was experiencing dizziness and headaches and pain from his injuries. We thought he had been doing better until he tried to leave the hospital on his own yesterday morning."

"Tried to leave on his own?" Noyce questioned with concern.

"Yes, he doesn't remember who he is. Doesn't remember who any of us are. Can't even remember his own name, Bill," Bridger informed him. "He has lost his hearing but the doctor is convinced that it is only temporary and he should get it back."

"He was getting frustrated at all of us yesterday and having to use notes to get his feelings across and ended up fainting in the hallway," Kristin continued for the Admiral. "After the doctor took him back to his room he started throwing up all of a sudden and he started to run a temperature."

Kristin went on to explain in no so much detail, the course of medication that the doctor thought would help, and what role she would play in that. Then she told the Admiral about the second part of Lucas's treatment which should help him regain his memory. But using familiar surroundings and introducing him slowly to people that he related with everyday.

Noyce was a little stunned to say the least and could see the concern on the crew showing on the screen in front of him, especially Nathan and Kristin.

"That is where we are at the moment; the doctor thinks that using the SeaQuest and my island will give enough variety for him to become relaxed in to help him regaining his memory. Trying to force him with too much information at once will only put too much pressure on him and could delay that," Bridger explained.

Commander Ford now stepped forward to address the Admiral, "We have agreed to stay with the Captain and Lucas on the SeaQuest and help out where we can."

"That is very good, Jonathan," Noyce remarked, "Nathan, you know that you and Lucas already have my co-operation without even asking. Lucas has helped the UEO out countless times on and off SeaQuest. Time to return the favour."

"Thanks, Bill. It may be only for a few days, we don't know a time frame yet, we just have to wait and see," Bridger stated.

"One thing Nathan, apart from those crew members I see standing with you, there are three other submariners spending a few days aboard the SeaQuest for the next few days," Admiral Noyce informed them.

"What are they doing back there?" Ford asked, thinking that most crew had already gone to wherever they intended to spend their free time.

"Part of a program that was designed several months ago, Commander," Noyce stated. "Don't worry, they won't be in your way, they are only there serving time for some misdemeanors and are required to carry out basic janitorial duties."

Bridger pondered this new information for a few moments. He didn't like the idea, but if the men had already been assigned, and there were only three of them, perhaps they could work around that small number. They were already given clean up duties and that alone would relieve the need for any of the senior crew to carry out such menial work whilst they focused more on helping Lucas.

The Captain now repeated this opinion out loud to Noyce and the crew standing with them. Ford was nodding his head at Bridger's thoughts, agreeing that they would be able to handle such a small number of other staff.

"I won't keep you any longer, Nathan, as I am sure you are anxious to get back to the hospital and see how Lucas is doing. Don't forget to keep me informed on how he is going, and wish him well from me. If you need anything further, just let me know."

"Will do, Bill," Bridger replied as the Admiral terminated the vid-link.

The time on the clock now read 10.30am, Bridger had hoped to get back to the hospital earlier than that. "Let's go, Kristin."

Ben stepped forward as well, "I know what you said last night Kristin, but there is no way I am staying away."

"Alright, you can come. I really should have known better than to tell you in the first place," Kristin said, knowing that Ben's friendship with Lucas could be part of the medicine that they needed right now.

"We will meet you back at the boat, Captain," Ortiz told him as he and the others watched Bridger and the doctor and Krieg head out the door of the hotel.

With the few good crew members that would be present, Bridger was confident in the fact that they would think for themselves about the various things that might be needed aboard the SeaQuest over the coming days.

Ford was a very good officer and would make sure there were plenty of things for them all to do. Krieg would provide any supplies, the food and anything else he could think for Lucas.

* * *

Back at the hospital, the doctor was very pleased to see that Lucas had made some great steps towards recovery overnight. When he had entered the room a short time ago, the teenager was trying to wake and sit up in the bed.

The lines of fatigue that he had yesterday were a lot less noticeable. He still looked a little pale, but some of the youth's colour had returned.

The doctor had already prepared a few hand-written notes, mindful that he had a few routine questions to ask the boy when he was a little more alert. He was patient though and allowed the young man to gain his bearings before worrying about asking anything.

Upon approaching the end of the bed, he picked up the chart that was there and carefully guided his eyes over the scribbles, ticks and other scrawled information that the nurses had painstakingly recorded on the hour, every hour as requested last night.

Lucas looked at the doctor, recognizing from the day previously. He had very little recollection of what had happened since yesterday. He recalled having tried to leave the hospital and making it out the door, but everything after that was hazy.

He thought he could remember hands on him and people moving about the room, but he couldn't be sure, and as he wasn't really interested this morning. Disappointment could be seen on his face as he was no closer to discovering who he was or remembering anything without impromptu or visual clues from someone else.

"**Good Morning"** the first prepared note said as the doctor held it up for the boy to read.

"Morning," Lucas said quietly as he tried to pull himself up into a sitting position.

The doctor moved around to the side of the bed and put some pillows behind his back. Some of his strength appeared to have come back due to a solid night of sleep, but no doubt it wouldn't take long for this to be reversed. The man took the opportunity while it existed to place his palm of the boy's forehead, checking his temperature.

He was pleased to note that Lucas's skin was mostly cool to the touch and normal body temperature had almost been restored.

"**I know you don't want to see many of these notes."**

Lucas read it and nodded his head at the statement, giving a small grin at the doctor's perception of his mood so quickly already.

"Guess I have to take it easy, huh?"

"**For a little while yet. What do you remember about what happened yesterday?"**

Lucas's mood was much more improved than it had been, and he was willing to co-operate with the doctor more this morning in describing how he felt or answer any other questions that were thrust in front on him on bits of paper. That part was still annoying to him.

"I still can't hear or remember anything," he told the doctor, making sure that the man at least understood that those problems hadn't been miraculously solved overnight.

"**I know. But that may change at any time."**

The doctor now put the previous note back up for the teenager to read, still wanting to hear what Lucas had to tell him.

"When I got to the door, I felt fine. Not great, but fine." admitting that trying to leave the hospital had been a foolish stunt.

The doctor nodded that he understood as the boy spoke.

"But when I was out in the hallway, the lights seemed to hurt my eyes and I became dizzy. After that I don't know."

"**That's okay, Lucas. Don't be alarmed, you fainted."**

"Fainted?" Lucas repeated thinking that it made him sound weak.

"**You have to give your body time yet, Lucas. Movement has to be much slower until you start feeling a little bit more like your old self."**

"Okay. I guess my body has been telling me that for a couple of days now," the teenager remarked as he recalled how he had also collapsed in his room coming back from the bathroom.

The doctor noted that the boy's explanation at least verified some of the new symptoms that he had observed and described to the Captain and Kristin.

"My ear still feels sore," Lucas informed the doctor, putting his hand to his right ear and noting the discomfort still present. "There is still some buzzing or ringing in there too."

The doctor now moved to take a better look, hoping to relay the young man's concern about his hearing. The right ear wasn't as hot to touch as it had been last night.

Lucas still tried to pull away when the doctor wanted to take a closer look at the inflamed membranes.

"**Alright, I know it is still pretty sore for you. I will give you some aspirin a little later to help with the pain."**

"Thank you. I didn't mean to sound ungrateful or anything."

"**You are doing pretty well, all things considered, Lucas."**

"What happens now?"

"**Breakfast first." **the next note read.

"Breakfast?" Lucas tried to take stock of how his stomach was faring first. "Will I throw up again?" This part he had remembered and how awful he had felt afterwards yesterday.

"**I think I have managed to fix that problem for you Lucas." **the doctor wrote without going in any details of what treatment had had administered or other treatment that he had outline with Kristin that was to begin today.

"**Just something light to begin with. After that you can judge for yourself." **he negotiated, hopefully giving the teenager a little bit of say in his own eating habits.

"As long as it is not too milk related or dairy stuff."

"**Don't like milk?"**

Lucas shook his head negatively. He hated the stuff and there was no way he was drinking any if it was placed in front of him.

"**I will send something in a few moments. After that, you can take a shower if you like."**

"That would be great," Lucas confessed, thinking a hot shower would do his aching muscles some good.

"**After that, I have some other things to discuss with you." **but the doctor didn't elaborate further at this stage.

Lucas had already noted that the doctor was the only one present in the room, but with him about to leave to organize his breakfast, the youth voiced one more question.

"What happened to the other people that were here yesterday?"

The doctor smiled at the boy's query, **"I sent them home last night to get some sleep."**

"Are they coming back?" Lucas asked. Although he still couldn't remember who they were, they had already told him that he lived with him and were his friends and family.

"**They should be here very soon. I will send them to you as soon as I see them."**

Lucas laid back against the pillows and watched as the doctor left the room, leaving him on his own in the room with his thoughts. There were quite a few other questions forming in his mind, but for now, they would all have to wait.

* * *

By the time Bridger, Ben and Kristin made it to the floor of the hospital where Lucas was, the teenager had been brought breakfast.

The doctor was standing by the nurses station and greeted them with a very pleased look as they exited the elevator.

"You have some good news for us?" Kristin prompted, seeing the look on the man's face. Some of her fears about Lucas quickly diminishing.

"Lucas is awake, and should be almost finished his breakfast," the doctor informed them.

"That's great news," Ben exclaimed. Not only the fact that Lucas was conscious again, but that he was eating.

"No signs off throwing up from before?" Bridger asked cautiously.

"Not so far. The injection was administered and there have been no side effects detected at all. He spent a peaceful night sleeping, and is the much better for it," the doctor answered.

"We talked a little, or rather I wrote and he read," he said with a small laugh. "He is in a much better frame of mind this morning.

"Rather than let me tell you all this, let's go in and see him. He was asking about where you were earlier."

Bridger was very happy to hear this and hoped that the teenager had genuinely made a big leap forward in being able to accept their help, even if he didn't recognize them. He put the harsh words and outbursts of shouting yesterday down to pain, fatigue and frustration, rather than any major change in his personality since his accident.

When the group entered the room, Lucas was indeed sitting up in bed with the small table in front of him and a half-eaten breakfast on a tray. There was a glass of juice that had only a few mouthfuls missing from it.

"Sorry, I managed about half, but could start to feel my stomach churn, so I didn't have any more," he said to the doctor.

"**You did good, Lucas. Just take it slow." **the doctor wrote, praising for what he managed to eat rather than focus on what had still be left. Half a battle seemed to have been won with the nausea, which was better than nothing.

Lucas gave a small smile to his family as they came into the room, giving them a brief wave and foregoing the need for any written communication.

"I was going to take that shower now," Lucas said, moving the table out of the way and preparing to get off the bed.

"**Take it easy."** the doctor warned. With the nausea still present in some form, it was only natural to assume that the dizziness that had plagued him yesterday may still be present.

Lucas nodded his head, and swung his legs over to the side of the bed. Kristin watched him as carefully as the other doctor as he prepared to stand. Bridger stood on the opposite side in case his assistance was needed. Ben held some fresh clothes and towel, ready to hand them to his friend when he wanted them.

The young man took a breath and held it in for a moment as he stood up, still holding onto the mattress. But he let a small smile work its way across his face and exhaled slowly as he realised that there was minimal giddiness or signs that he was about to fall abruptly.

"Not great, but okay," he said out loud, making a similar statement to the doctor's first question about how he felt.

The doctor nodded in approval, pleased that the boy was being honest enough. Like the nausea, not gone completely.

Lucas now took a few tentative steps towards the small bathroom and accepted the clothes and towel from Ben.

"**Someone will be outside if you need anything. Just knock on the inside of the door."**

A good twenty minutes later, Lucas came back out of the bathroom in the fresh clothes and feeling refreshed from the shower. The hot water had been soothing to his back and he couldn't even detect a headache a the moment.

"You mentioned before about wanting to discuss something more with me," Lucas said to the doctor. Instead of getting back into the bed, he relished a few moments of freedom and sat in one of the overly large visitor chairs beside the bed.

"**I wanted to talk to you about letting you out of here today."**

"Letting me out," Lucas said cautiously. Whilst he was happy to hear the words, he suspected that he wasn't about to get everything his own way, especially after admitting that he still wasn't feeling one hundred percent.

The doctor picked up on his thoughts and added this, **"Yes, it is going to be choked with conditions."**

All in the room gave a small laugh, including Lucas, but now the teenager reiterated what his concerns were and why he had tried to leave the hospital on his own.

"You don't know what its like. I have a – a blank space in my mind. It is like going to the bookcase for a book, putting your hand out for it, and its gone. I know something happened to me the other day because you me tell I was in an accident and I can feel the pain from it. But I don't know remember what happened in it or how I came to be driving in the first place!"

"I don't know where I was going, who I was with. Anything," he said with a touch of exasperation creeping back into his voice.

Bridger was glad that he wasn't directly asking these questions, because when they left the restaurant, they didn't know where he was going either. They still didn't know the identity of the man that had approach him outside.

"**The conditions will be, that you do everything here that Kristin tells you."**

"**She is going to give you some medicine each day. I expect you to take it as she instructs and without complaint."**

"**You need to eat, small but regular meals to regain your strength. I think once you do that, then the dizziness and the nausea will subside pretty quickly."**

Lucas acknowledged with each sentence that he understood what was required for him to be released.

"**Like we discussed, you need to take things slow for a little bit, but your memory should return. Your ears are still giving you trouble, but your hearing loss is only temporary. Once your body has a chance to repair itself, then you should note a remarked improvement and be back to normal again very soon."**

"Anything else?"

"**Only that you promise not to come back here again…….. ," **the doctor wrote, trying to lighten the teenager's mood. **"Except to visit of course."**

"Deal."

Kristin now wrote to him in mock sternness. **"Oh deal is it? We will see about that young man, when I see that you are going to do exactly as I ask for a change." **She added a genuine smile to the statement, and placed a gentle hand of reassurance on his shoulder.

"Where will I go to from here?" Lucas asked quietly.

"**To a couple of places over the next few days, Lucas. But first to somewhere you call home nine months of the year." **Bridger said to him, not wanting to alarm him straight away that he lived on a submarine.

"**You wait here, I want to talk to Kristin for a bit, and make some other arrangements with your family here, and then we will send you on your way." **the doctor informed Lucas.

"Ben, will you stay here with Lucas, while Nathan and I talk to the doctor," Kristin asked the Lieutenant.

"Sure," Krieg readily agreed.

Lucas watched as the three adults left the room. "Babysitting duty, huh?" he said to person who was left.

Ben gestured yes, but didn't bother with any notes to his friend.

* * *

"As you can see, making huge amounts of progress from yesterday," the doctor said to Kristin and Bridger outside the room. "But still some ways to go it would appear on the young man's own admissions."

"The nausea and dizziness still there," Kristin noted.

"Yes, but at levels that I still believe are manageable," the doctor assured her and the Captain.

"You heard most of what I think said to Lucas in there. Small meals at regular intervals, and again, hating to reiterate everything, just keeping a close eye on him." the doctor added. "And plenty of rest."

"It is a little before lunch now, but I see no reason why I should delay releasing him as late as I stated yesterday," the doctor now informed them.

"Please don't be too concerned if some of the symptoms he was showing yesterday begin to emerge again later today before you give him the syrup, Kristin. They should soon settle down again overnight if they do appear. His temperature is back to almost normal."

"Did you tell Lucas everything this morning, after he woke up?" Bridger asked, wanting to know if the teenager had been given the full story about the treatment that the doctor had arranged with Kristin.

"No, I didn't, Captain," the doctor admitted. "Most of the symptoms that I mentioned Lucas is already aware of. And with his memory loss at the moment, I don't believe there is any need to confuse matters further with long detailed explanations such as the one I gave you."

"If you want to go back in and collect his things together, and come back out here into nurses station, I will get the medication that I promised and meet you back here before you take him back downstairs," the doctor instructed.

Bridger and Kristin went back into the room and saw Lucas still sitting in the visitor's chair. There wasn't much conversation happening between the teenager and Ben, which wasn't usually the case between them.

"**The doctor will meet us outside at the nurses station in a few minutes, and then you will be ready to go."** Kristin write on a new note and then showed it to Lucas.

"Great," Lucas said. "Let's get going," he announced ready to walk out the door immediately.

"You guys go ahead, I will only be here a minute getting everything together," Krieg suggested, only too happy to see the eagerness of his friend to leave. He didn't want to dampen his spirits before they even left the hospital.

* * *

Bridger and Kristin thanked Ben and quickly followed Lucas out into the hallway. At first the three of them went over the row of chairs that Krieg and the Captain had occupied the previous day.

Kristin kept close to Lucas, both as a friend and his doctor. The teenager seemed to be doing reasonable well, and showing no signs of weakness or any symptoms of becoming dizzy. The young man sat on the row of chairs and was calm and quiet.

The doctor returned quicker than he had expected with the medication and now gestured for her and the Captain to approach the nurses station across the hallway. They do so reluctantly at first, both wanting to stay with Lucas, but then remembering the warnings about putting too much pressure on him and making him feel closed in.

Lucas was left sitting on the chairs, with Kristin promising him that they would only be a minute. She didn't write any notes, but hoped that a gentle squeeze of his hand was enough of a signal for him to remain where he was until they were ready to leave.

Whilst Lucas was sitting on his own, he didn't hear the sound of the 'ding' from the elevator that signalled the doors opening. With Kristin and Bridger's attention focused briefly on what the doctor was saying about the medication he held in his hand, they failed to note the short, balding man getting off the lift and looking about the hallway, as though looking for someone.

The man had made enquiries at the administration desk downstairs about a patient by the surname of Wolenczak being in the hospital. He had shown correct identification and told the nurse present that he was the boy's lawyer and had need to discuss matters with him.

This was partially true, he was Wolenczak's lawyer, he just failed to mention that he hadn't come on Lawrence's say so or for any other reason than to warn the boy. He didn't owe anything to Lucas, but the man had watched his employer over the past several months since being released from hospital.

At first, the man appeared to be completely changed. Having little or no memory of his previous life or the misery that he had dished out to his family, mainly his only son Lucas. He had no recollection of the deeds that he had carried out with Paul Sanderson.

But now six months after coming out of his coma, Lawrence Wolenczak displayed all of the signs of being the self-appointed, self-righteous bastard he had always been. Drinking heavily to dull the headaches that he spoke of, but the liquor only fuelling his anger and rekindling memories of his imprisonment and what he had lost as a businessman and scientist.

Lawrence blamed only one person for all this, and had swore on countless occasions over the last few weeks that he would find the boy and make him pay dearly for his disloyalty and disrespect. The drinking continued and the anger within Wolenczak senior grew to scary levels. To the point were as a lawyer, he was no longer willing to act for Lawrence or have anything to do with his financial affairs or any part of his life.

The lawyer knew he would have to lay low as well, after forewarning the boy. If Lawrence got a whiff of his betrayal or that he had tried to contact Lucas, then he would have to fear for his own life.

The man was surprised to see the teenager sitting on his own in the hallway. The nurse downstairs had given up the room number and on the way up in the lift he had been trying to figure out how to get into see Lucas without any interference from doctors or nursing staff.

Lucas looked up as the short man approached him rapidly. At first the teenager thought the man had mistaken him for someone else, but the man kept his gaze fixated on him and strode up to him in great haste.

"You have to get away while you can. Somewhere where your father cannot find you," he warned the teenager.

Lucas couldn't hear the man's words but was slightly intimidated by this stranger coming up to him so fast. The boy stood up and was trying to back away from the man.

"I can't hear you," Lucas stated plainly, hoping the man would understand.

The volume of his voice wasn't loud enough to alert Kristin or Bridger to the man being near their young charge.

The lawyer didn't want to play games with Lucas. He knew some of the past between Lucas and his father, probably not everything, but enough to try and help him. The man had tried to talk to the teenager a few nights ago when he tracked him down outside a restaurant.

The man knew that the boy had a new family and friends now and for the most part was stowed away safely on some naval vessel. But he knew enough about Lawrence to know that the man wouldn't rest until he found his runaway son, new family or not and would make another attempt at killing him.

Lucas had talked briefly to him, but insisted that he didn't want to hear anything the lawyer had to say. He said that he didn't believe that his father had awoken from his coma, despite evidence from a courtroom to the contrary. The kid had walked away in a huff that night.

The lawyer had only heard about the accident the previous day and had promised himself that he would make one last ditch attempt to warn the boy to stay away from his father.

Ben had just come out of Lucas's hospital room when he saw the man standing before his friend, who was trying to step away from him. He dropped the bags he was carrying immediately.

"Hey, you!" Krieg shouted, grabbing the attention of the doctor, and Bridger with his shouting. "Get away from him."

Bridger started to head in Lucas's direction too, recognizing the man as the same one that had been at the restaurant. It was clear to both Ben and the Captain that the teenager didn't recall any conversation and didn't remember who the man was.

"Listen you little twerp," the man said stepping up and grabbing Lucas by the front of his shirt causing the teenager to gasp out loud at the rough handling.

"I am sticking my neck out here for you. More than I have to." the lawyer managed to get out before he found two sets of hands pulling him away from the boy.

"That's enough whoever you are?" Bridger said as he and Ben both grabbed the lawyer. He was hoping his statement would make the man tell him who he was.

Kristin was beside Lucas who was a little shaken by the man's actions, but still standing, looking back at him with confusion.

The doctor and two orderlies approached all involved, thinking that there may be an altercation about to happen, but he was pleased to see that Bridger and Krieg had everything under control.

"I have no idea who you are," Lucas said to the man.

The lawyer scoffed at this statement, thinking the kid was just being obstinate, "Fine, go ahead and ignore me then. I don't care. But you better listen to me because he is going to get to you. Just a matter of time."

"You need to find somewhere to hide and you need to do it now!" the lawyer shouted again, still trying to struggle against the grip of the two men holding him. He could see the bruising on the side of the boy's face and it reminded him of other times when he saw the teenager sporting similar injuries as a result of Lawrence's anger.

Bridger, Kristin and Ben all exchanged worried glances about the statements that the man was making. They could hear the man warning the teenager needed to get away from someone. They call swallowed nervously as a single name came to them as the best possibility.

"What is he saying? Why is he trying to talk to me?" Lucas demanded, his own temper beginning to show at this complete stranger and not knowing what was going on. "I can't hear a damn word he is saying."

Kristin could see that Lucas was becoming agitated again, and so did the doctor. They needed to avoid this and she tried to begin leading him away from the situation. She could count on Nathan and Ben to the hospital security staff if necessary to get rid of the man and his threats.

"I have tried to warn you twice now, I will not do it a third time," the lawyer said. "If you won't take my advice, then you will have to fend for yourself. Because mark my words, he will find you. He has before and will do so again. He already knows where to find you."

"Get rid of him," Bridger ordered angrily two security staff who began dragging the man away for questioning.

Lucas was raising his hand to his ear again, grimacing at the pain, but keeping his attention focused on the stranger in front of him. "I don't know who you are or who you are talking about," he yelled at the man, and then turned his head away at the pain in his head that resulted.

"Take me out of here, please……….," Lucas pleaded with Kristin as she put her arm around him.

to be continued……………………

Author Notes: Okay – long long long I know – but hope you like. I did it that way so there was a little bit of Lucas at the end instead of just medical jargon.

The bits about Lucas's dislike of milk in particular is just made up - I have three main characters that I write about in fandoms - and all of them have this hate - some have more than 1 - but they all hate milk.

In the next chapter, you will see the return of Ensign Cooper, and yes he is the same character that I have introduced to other stories recently. He was never meant to be a long time original character, but after reading comments and seeing how much he antagonises Ben as well as the readers, I have decided to have him around quite a bit more in this and other stories – like the proverbial thorn in the side. Nothing too much happening from him except annoyance to Lucas in some situations and of course more so Ben.

In relation to A PERFECT WORLD - I am halfway through updating that story - but had a lot of new characters to introduce and it is fairly complicated - so this is why this story was updated first.

I had thought about retiring from writing – but I guess after all the ideas for new stories that I have – I will have to stick around for quite a while yet.

Please let me know what you think.

Jule


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